No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2017
The development of a forage processor that grinds the grains in whole-crop wheat (WCW) prior to ensiling has been shown to improve whole tract digestibility of the starch component and improve the efficiency of forage utilisation (Jackson et al. 2004). This allows wheat to be harvested over a much wider harvest window than was previously possible. Further work (Bond et al., 2004) demonstrated that animals fed processed, urea-treated WCW harvested at 700 g dry matter (DM) per kg had a significantly higher milk yield than those fed fermented WCW harvested at approximately 450 g DM/kg, or urea-treated WCW harvested at approximately 850 g DM/kg. Previously, processed, urea-treated WCW for dairy cows has been included at 0.67 of the forage DM intake, although, the optimal inclusion rate of processed WCW is unclear. The objective of the current experiment was to investigate the effect of rate of inclusion of processed, urea-treated WCW on the performance and apparent digestibility in dairy cows.