Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012): Tackling the Future Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry.
Proceedings of the 2 nd OAHC, Hamburg/Trenthorst, Germany, Sep 12-14, 2012
Results and discussion
Despite the higher fat content and lower protein content in rapeseed than in CORC, and thereby
more difficult to compose a balanced diet, there were no significant differences found in milk yield
and composition between the RS and C diets (Table 2). However, cows fed rapeseed had a numerically
higher intake of the mixed ration than the cows fed CORC (20.1 vs 16.9 kg DM; Table 3) and
might thereby have fulfilled their nutritive intake (Table 1) to their capacity for milk production.
The energy balance was a bit low for C-cows (NEL-balance 92 and 95 % for cows in lactation < 3
months or > 3 months, respectively), which is normal for cows in early lactation. The RS cows had,
however, enough consumption to have a high energy balance also in early lactation (NEL-balance
103 and 112 % for cows in lactation < 3 months or > 3 months, respectively). There were no large
differences found in cow health or fertility (data not shown).
Table 2. Average milk yield and milk composition with standard error of means (SEM)
from cows fed CORC (C) and rapeseed (RS) diets, in early (< 3 months; n=15) and
later lactation (> 3 months; n=27)
< 3 months > 3 months
C1 RS2 SEM P C3 RS3 SEM P
Milk yield (kg) 37,2 38,3 1,77 0,687 31,1 29,9 0,92 0,366
Milk fat (%) 4,17 4,12 0,15 0,786 4,09 4,20 0,08 0,353
Milk protein (%) 3,10 3,14 0,08 0,749 3,34 3,32 0,05 0,782
Milk urea (mmol/l) 4,81 4,84 0,24 0,920 4,49 4,53 0,13 0,839
1 DIM (days in milk, mean): 54, 2DIM: 51, 3DIM: 195
Table 3. Milk yield income minus cost of feeds in cold-pressed rapeseed cake (C) and rapeseed
(RS) diets. Swedish crown (SEK) per cow and day in early (< 3 months) and
later lactation (> 3 months). 1 SEK = 0.11 EUR (May, 2012)
Early lactation
C RS
Kg SEK/kg SEK Kg SEK/kg SEK
Milk (kg milk) 37.2 4.38 162.90 38.3 4.39 168.10
CORC (kg feed) 2.40 6.00 14.40
Rapeseed (kg feed) 1.32 6.02 8.00
Field bean (kg feed) 3.50 3.33 11.70 4.43 3.33 14.70
Silage (kg DM) 12.37 1.50 18.60 14.74 1.50 22.10
Grains (kg feed) 4.78 3.18 15.20 5.68 3.18 18.10
Other feed 4.30 5.00
Milk income-feed cost 98.80 100.20
Later lactation
Milk (kg milk) 31.1 4.50 139.90 29.9 4.53 135.50
CORC (kg feed) 1.48 6.00 8.90
Rapeseed (kg feed) 0.88 6.02 5.30
Field bean (kg feed) 2.43 3.33 8.10 2.95 3.33 9.80
Silage (kg DM) 12.37 1.50 18.60 14.74 1.50 22.10
Grains(kg feed) 4.78 3.18 15.20 5.68 3.18 18.10
Other feed 4.30 5.00
Milk income-feed cost 85.00 75.10
During early lactation RS had slightly better profitability than the C diet. In the later part of the lactation,
which includes the main part of the total lactation, C had 10 SEK better profitability per cow
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