Increasing Feed Conversion Efficiency in Automatic Milking Systems: The Impact of Grain-Based Concentrate Allocation and Kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum) Pasture State on Milk Production

Increasing Feed Conversion Efficiency in Automatic Milking Systems: The Impact of Grain-Based Concentrate Allocation and Kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum) Pasture State on Milk Production

Pasture is typically offered to dairy cows in three allocations in pasture-based automatic milking systems (AMS). However, due to voluntary cow movement and distribution of milkings, some dairy cows access fresh pasture and other cows access depleted (stale) pasture. The first cows moving to an allocation of fresh pasture are offered ad-libitum, high quality pasture as opposed to cows arriving to the same allocation during the middle or end of the day accessing poorer quality, high fibre (neutral detergent fibre, NDF) pasture. In addition, grain-based concentrate (GBC) is allocated independently to this pasture state. The ability to increase feed conversion efficiency and AMS herd milk production by targetedGBC supplementation to cows accessing differing pasture states is unknown. Therefore, the aim of the current experiment was to determine the impact of pasture state and GBC allocation on dairy cow milk production.