Effect of type of forage offered and breed on performance of crossbred suckler heifers and their calves
2008
M. MANNINEN | I. ARONEN | M.-L. PUNTILA
Thirty Hereford-Ayrshire (HfAy) and 29 Limousine-Ayrshire (LiAy) spring-calving heifers in calf to a Aberdeen Angus (Ab) bull were used to study the effects of cow breed and winter diet on performance. The diets were either primarily based on hay (H, of dry matter (DM) intake, silage ) or silage (S, of DM intake, hay ). In addition, animals were offered 1.0 kg milled barley per head daily for two months prior to calving and 1.5 kg/day from calving until grazing commenced. Animals also had free access to barley straw. During the indoor feeding period from 15 December to 1 June HfAy-heifers consumed slightly but not significantly more feed DM, metabolizable energy and AAT (amino acids absorbed from the small intestine) than LiAy-heifers on both diets. At the start of the experiment LiAy- and HfAy-heifers were 572 and 596 (P
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