Table 2.
Characteristics and diet from twenty dairy farms featuring extensive or intensive production systems, where milk was sampled for quantitative real-time PCR validation.
| Production System | Number of Cows | Milk Production (L/Day Cow) | Grazing (h/Day) | Grass Silage (kg F */Day/Cow) | Maize Silage (kg F */Day/Cow) | Hay (kg F */Day/Cow) | Concentrate (kg F */Day/Cow) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intensive (10 farms) |
124 | 37.4 | 0 | 8.0 | 30.0 | 0.8 | 11.5 |
| 116 | 37.0 | 0 | 10.0 | 30.0 | 0.0 | 10.5 | |
| 90 | 29.0 | 0 | 16.0 | 20.0 | 3.0 | 12.0 | |
| 240 | 36.0 | 0 | 10.0 | 16.0 | 2.5 | 12.0 | |
| 250 | 38.0 | 0 | 12.0 | 30.0 | 0.9 | 12.3 | |
| 37 | 27.0 | 0 | 14.0 | 28.0 | 0.0 | 10.5 | |
| 110 | 30.0 | 0 | 16.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 11.0 | |
| 72 | 28.0 | 0 | 15.0 | 20.0 | 2.5 | 12.0 | |
| 118 | 36.0 | 0 | 16.0 | 22.0 | 0.0 | 10.5 | |
| 124 | 37.0 | 0 | 11.0 | 20.0 | 4.5 | 12.0 | |
| Extensive (10 farms) |
20 | 21.0 | 6 | 10.0 | 0.0 | 6.8 | 6.5 |
| 24 | 21.0 | 20 | 12.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | |
| 12 | 26.2 | 22 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 4.0 | |
| 8 | 18.8 | 21 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.6 | 4.1 | |
| 35 | 19.5 | 20 | 14.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.7 | |
| 15 | 29.0 | 18 | 33.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 6.2 | |
| 30 | 27.0 | 18 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | |
| 7 | 20.0 | 22 | 6.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | |
| 16 | 23.0 | 21 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | |
| 22 | 24.0 | 20 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 |
* kg F, kg of fresh matter.