Short-Term Adaptation of Dairy Cattle Production Parameters to Individualized Changes in Dietary Top Dress

Abstract

Immediate and short-term changes in diet composition can support individualized, real-time interventions in precision dairy production systems, and might increase feed efficiency (FE) of dairy cattle in the short-term. The objective of this study was to determine immediate and short-term effects of changes in diet composition on production parameters of dairy cattle fed varying amounts of top dressed commodities. A 4 × 4 replicated Latin square design was used to evaluate responses of twenty-four Holstein cows fed either no top dress (Control) or increasing amounts of: corn grain (CG), soybean meal (SBM), or chopped mixed grass hay (GH) top dressed on a total mixed ration (TMR) over four, 9-day periods. Throughout each period, top dressed commodities were incrementally increased, providing 0% to 20% of calculated net energy of lactation (NE_L) intake. Measured production responses were analyzed for each 9-d period using a mixed-effects model considering two different time ranges. Samples collected from d 3 and 4 and from d 7 and 8 of each period were averaged and used to reflect "immediate" vs. "short-term" responses, respectively. In the immediate response time frame, control fed cows had lower milk yield, milk fat yield, and milk true protein yield than CG and SBM supplemented animals but similar responses to GH supplemented animals. Milk fat and protein percentages were not affected by top dress type in the immediate term. In the short-term response time-frame, GH supplemented animals had lower DMI and milk fat yield than all other groups. Control and GH supplemented cows had lower milk yield than CG and SBM fed cows. In the immediate response time frame, FE of SBM supplemented cows was superior to other groups. In the short-term time frame, FE of GH and SBM groups was improved over the control group. Results suggest that lactating dairy cows show rapid performance responses to small (<20% NE_L) changes in dietary composition, which may be leveraged within automated precision feeding systems to optimize efficiency of production. Before this potential can be realized, further research is needed to examine integration of such strategies into automatic feeding systems and downstream impacts on individual animal FE and farm profitability.

Keywords: feeding; individualized; precision; short-term.

Figure 1

The experimental design consisted of four periods that were nine days in length. During each period, six cows were randomly assigned to one of four treatment options. Experimental treatments included: Control = TMR with no top dress; CG = TMR with corn grain top dress; SBM = TMR with soybean meal top dress; and GH = TMR with mixed grass hay top dress. A replicated 4 × 4 Latin square was implemented and each group of six cows was fed a different experimental treatment diet over the four periods. Cows were fed increasing amounts of dietary net energy of lactation (NE_L) intake from top dress over each period, as shown in the rectangles above.