Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
Body fat and protein reserves at calving can affect milk production and composition (Garnsworthy, 1988; Moorby et al., 1996). Milk producers frequently feed their dry cows with a low quality diet to prevent them from becoming too fat before calving. However, the cow must nourish the foetus and develop mammary secretory tissues, which can be a problem if she is offered a low protein diet. This experiment was designed to test the interaction between energy and protein supplies during the dry period on changes in live weight (LW), condition score (CS) and muscle Longissimus dorsi depth (LD). Subsequent milk production and composition data are reported in a separate summary (Jaurena et al., 2001).