Productive and Economic Responses in Grazing Dairy Cows to Grain Supplementation on Family Farms in the South of Brazil

Pasture-based dairy production has been a major source of income for most family farms in the south of Brazil. Increasing milk prices have spurred an increase in grain supplementation, which has been poorly implemented, resulting in low levels of efficiency. To evaluate the consequences of supplemen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Animals (Basel) Vol. 4; no. 3; pp. 463 - 475
Main Authors:	Filho, Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado, D'Ávila, Leandro Martins, da Silva Kazama, Daniele Cristina, Bento, Lauana Luiza, Kuhnen, Shirley
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland MDPI AG 17-07-2014 MDPI
Subjects:	Agricultural economics Agriculture Animal lactation Animals Carotene Carotenoids Cattle Chemical composition Corn Costs Cow's milk Dairy cattle Dairy farming Dairy farms Data collection Economics Energy Experiments Family farms Farmers Grain Grazing grazing behavior Lactation Lactose livestock sustainability Milk milk composition Milk production Milking Organic farming Pasture Productivity Proteins Urea Vitamin A Voisin’s Rational Grazing β-Carotene Brazil livestock sustainability Voisin’s Rational Grazing grazing behavior milk composition
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Summary:	Pasture-based dairy production has been a major source of income for most family farms in the south of Brazil. Increasing milk prices have spurred an increase in grain supplementation, which has been poorly implemented, resulting in low levels of efficiency. To evaluate the consequences of supplementation on milk production and composition, grazing behavior and economic return, the widely used grain management system (CC-commercial concentrate, containing 21% CP, offered at 1 kg per 3.7 L of milk) was compared with an energy supplement (GC-ground corn, with 9.5% CP, offered at 0.4% of live weight). Ten Holstein cows were paired into two groups, and subjected to the two treatments in a crossover design. The cows remained in the same grazing group, and the grain supplement was offered individually at milking time and consumed completely. Each experimental period lasted 14 days, with 10 days for diet adaptation and four days for data collection; individual milk production and samples were collected to determine levels of fat, protein, lactose, carotenoids, vitamin A and N-urea. Grazing behavior was observed (scans every 5 min) in the first 4 h after the morning milking, and chemical composition of hand plucked samples of forage were measured. The cost of the supplement and profitability per treatment were calculated. Cows supplemented with GC consumed herbage with higher crude protein (CP: 16.23 vs. 14.62%; p < 0.05), had higher biting rate (44.21 vs. 39.54 bites/min; p < 0.03) and grazing time (22.20 vs. 20.55 scans; p < 0.05) than when receiving CC. There were no differences in milk composition between treatments (p > 0.05). However, higher concentrations of β-carotene and total carotenoids were detected in the milk of cows at 70-164 days of lactation, compared to <70 days of lactation (p < 0.05). Milk production was higher (13.19 vs. 11.59 kg/day; p < 0.05) when cows consumed CC, but resulted in lower profitability compared to GC (US$ 4.39 vs. US$ 4.83/cow per day). Our results show that higher productivity does not necessarily improve profitability. Cows receiving supplement with lower levels of protein were able to adjust their grazing behavior to meet their protein needs and this level of diet modification did not alter milk composition.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2076-2615 2076-2615
DOI:	10.3390/ani4030463