Influence of once daily milking and restricted feeding on milk
characteristics in late lactation
S.J. Lacy-Hulbert, M.W. Woolford, A.M. Bryant
Dairying Research Corporation Ltd, Private Bag 3123, Ruakura
Research Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand
Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production. 1995,
55: 85-87
Forty-two identical twinsets were milked either once (ODM) or twice
(TDM) daily and offered pasture and silage, either to appetite (H) or
restricted to 50-60% of this level (L) for the last 5 weeks of the 93/94
season. Pretreatment, uninfected cows produced 8.45+/-0.28 1 milk/d
(mean +/- S.E) with a mean somatic cell count (SCC) of 37.1+/-3.3 x
10/3 cells/ml). Milk yields were significantly reduced (P<0.001) by L
nutrition and by ODM. LogSCC was significantly increased (P<0.05) by L
nutrition, due to reduced milk volumes but was not affected by ODM.
Concentration of the serum-derived proteins, immunoglobulin G and bovine
serum albumin, increased significantly for L nutrition and ODM. This
suggests that involution had been accelerated in these animals, whose
average daily milk yield was below 5 1/d. In late lactation milking
should be discontinued for cows with milk yields of less than 5 1/d as
involution may be initiated below this yield.
Keywords: NZSAPAB;
somatic cell count; once daily milking; nutrition; late lactation;
cows
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Last Updated 25-01-1997
