Table 1.
Ingredients of the feed mixtures and amounts of concentrate fed during pre‐ and post‐calving period of dairy cows
| Dry cow ration | Lactation ration | |
|---|---|---|
| Feed mixture (% of DM) | ||
| Wilted grass silage | 46.7 | 51.9 |
| Corn silage | 15.8 | 33.3 |
| Chopped rapeseed straw | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| Chopped wheat straw | 23.6 | ‐ |
| Rapeseed extract | 9.9 | 3.1 |
| Soya bean extract | ‐ | 10.1 |
| Vitamin and mineral premix | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Magnesium oxide | 0.2 | ‐ |
| Sodium bicarbonate | ‐ | 0.6 |
| Concentrate (kg/cow/day) | ||
| Barna | 0 to 1.0 | 1.0 to 8.5 |
| Milking parlourb | ‐ | 1.0 |
a
Compound concentrate (based on ground corn, palm kernel expeller, rapeseed solvent extract, soy hulls and soya bean solvent extract) with 6.7 MJ NEL and 180 g CP per kg; pre‐calving gradually increasing from 0 kg/day at day −14 to 1.0 kg/day on the expected day of calving, and post‐calving gradually increasing from 1.0 kg/day at day 0 to 8.5 kg/day at day 17 and maintained at 8.5 kg/day until the end of the trial.
b
Compound concentrate (based on ground corn, palm kernel expeller, citrus pulp, rapeseed solvent extract and rapeseed formaldehyde treated) with 6.6 MJ NEL and 165 g CP per kg.