Feeding Lactating Dairy Cows Concentrates and Sugarcane Bagasse As Compared with a Conventional Ration

Abstract

Seven Brown Swiss and nine Holstein cows, which attained a milk-production level of at least 35 pounds daily by the third week of lactation, were divided into two groups as nearly alike as possible. During the preliminary period, days 3 to 21 of lactation, all cows received the same standard concentrates mixture: 1 pound per 2 pounds of milk produced, plus green chopped grass or silage ad libitum, and nightime grazing mostly on unimproved pastures. During the comparison period, days 22 to 49 of lactation, the control cows continued under the same conventional ration, except that concentrate allowances were adjusted by the Maryland Feeding Standards, while the experimental cows were fed a mixture containing 15 percent of sugarcane bagasse and 85 percent of concentrates ad libitum, along with decreasing amounts of harvested forage with no pasture. During the comparison period, days 50 to 259 of lactation, the control cows were treated as in the preceding period, while, the experimental cows received only the concentrate-bagasse mixture, plus standard-concentrates mixture (during milking) and loose unground bagasse.