Table 1.

Ingredients and chemical composition of diets for dairy cows in pre and post-partum periods

	DCAD (mEq/kg DM)
	−100	+100	+200	+400
Ingredients (% DM)	Prepartum		Postpartum
Alfalfa	40.07	39.90	23.96	23.82
Corn silage	28.98	28.54	14.36	14.29
Concentrate mixture1	28.18	29.68	-	-
Beet pulp	1.13	1.67	-	-
Anionic salts2	1.64	0.21	-	-
Concentrate mixture	-		61.683	61.894
Nutrient levels (% DM)
NEL	1.31	1.33	1.58	1.57
CP	13	13.2	18.4	18.5
NDF	48.7	48.3	34.8	34.3
ADF	27.2	27.5	19	18.9
Ca	0.76	0.48	0.82	0.82
Mg	0.31	0.23	0.29	0.29
P	0.25	0.26	0.41	0.41
Na	0.21	0.21	0.49	0.78
K	1.19	1.20	1.14	1.42
Cl	0.85	0.56	0.53	0.53
S	0.42	0.22	0.24	0.24
DCAD5 (mEq/kg DM)	−108	+106	+206	+404

¹Concentrate composition (%): barley, 20.5; corn, 20.5; wheat, 4.5; wheat barn, 28.5; cotton meal, 19; soybean meal, 6; premix 1, 1.

²Ingredients: NH₄Cl, CaCl₂, MgSO₄, CaSO₄ (each 0.41% for anionic diet).

³Composition (for 61.68%): barley, 13; wheat, 3.78; corn, 12.04; wheat barn, 8.71; cotton meal, 12.04; soybean meal, 7.55; fat calcium soaps, 1.72; NaHCO₃, 0.68; CaCO₃, 1; MgO, 0.18; salt, 0.49; premix 2, 0.49.

⁴Composition (for 61.89%): barley, 12.51; wheat, 2.87; corn, 11.74; wheat barn, 8.30; cotton meal, 12.33; soybean meal, 8.01; fat calcium soaps, 1.71; NaHCO₃, 1.77; K₂CO₃, 0.49; CaCO₃, 1; MgO, 0.18; salt, 0.49; premix 2, 0.49.

⁵Actually determined dietary cation-anion difference (Na+K+0.15 Ca+0.15 Mg)-(Cl+0.6 S+0.5 P).