The Value of Alfalfa Hay and Alfalfa Silage When Fed as Supplements to Cows on Pasture

Alfalfa hay and alfalfa silage did not increase the milk production of cows on pasture, but both reduced the amount of dry matter obtained from pasture feeding.Editor.Summer slumps in milk production are common in most states.Efforts to prevent or minimize this condition have followed various routes.A limited amount of work has been done to determine the value of supplementing summer pastures with such feedstuffs as hay, silage, or an extra allotment of grain over and above that normally fed to milk cows.The results of these studies have been reviewed previously (7).During the summer of 1954 Seath et al. (7) fed cows grazing a Kentucky bluegrass pasture twice daily all the alfalfa hay they would consume.No improvement in milk production was noted, although they did observe significant gains in body weight as a result of hay feeding.Cows fed hay consumed significantly less dry matter from pasture than cows not fect hay.Because of the lack of experimental data relating to the subject of supplementing summer pastures with barn feeding of additional roughages, this experiment was undertaken to measure what influences the feeding of alfalfa hay or alfalfa silage to cows on summer pasture would have on milk production, body weight, dry matter intake, and the digestibility of the ration, aml to compare alfalfa hay with alfalfa silage as a supplement to summer pasture. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDUREA total of 18 cows, nine Holsteins and nine Jerseys, were selected from the University dairy herd.They were sorted so as to have three groups as similar as possible, with regard to breed, milk production, and body weight.Group I served as the control animals, Group II was supplemented with alfalfa hay, and Group III received alfalfa silage as a supplement to the pasture.During the period May 25 to September 14 the cows were allowed to graze a permanent pasture consisting primarily of Kentucky bluegrass with solne white clover which decreased in amount as the season advanced.The condition of the