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Effect of stocking rate and supplementation on performance of dairy cows grazing native grassland in small-scale systems in the highlands of central Mexico

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Abstract

The use and management of native grassland for dairy production during the rainy season was studied on two small-scale dairy farms in the highlands of central Mexico. Two stocking rates (2 and 4 cows/ha) and two levels of supplementation with commercial concentrate (4 and 6 kg/cow/day) under grazing were given to 12 milking Holstein cows in a 4 × 4 Latin square design replicated three times in a factorial arrangement. Net herbage accumulation (NHA), sward height, chemical composition, and in vitro digestibility of organic matter were recorded for the grassland, as well as vegetation cover and herbage mass 12 weeks post experiment. Animal performance variables were milk yield and composition, live weight, and body condition score. A partial budget analysis of feeding costs, returns, and margins was calculated. There were no differences between periods for NHA and herbage height and between plots for chemical composition (P > 0.05). However, there were highly significant differences among periods (P < 0.01) for organic matter, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre, in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), and estimated metabolisable energy (eME), with highly significant plot × period interactions (P < 0.01) for NDF, IVOMD, and eME. There were no statistical differences (P > 0.05) between treatments for milk yield, chemical composition of milk, live weight, or body condition score. Post-experimental vegetation cover was 72 % for both stocking rates, indicating there was no degradation of the grassland. Lower feeding costs were for the low supplementation treatments. It is concluded that a high stocking rate in studied native grasslands of 4 cows/ha with moderate concentrate supplementation supports a mean milk yield of 11.9 kg/cow/day during the rainy season without deleterious effects on the grassland.

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Abbreviations

ADF:

Acid detergent fibre

eME:

Estimated metabolisable energy

IVOMD:

In vitro organic matter digestibility

NDF:

Neutral detergent fibre

OM:

Organic matter

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to the farmers who participated in this experiment, whose privacy is respected by not disclosing their names. This work was undertaken thanks to the funding by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) (grant 129449 CB-2009) and the postgraduate grant for Pedro Alan Sainz-Sánchez.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales (ICAR), Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM), Instituto Literario # 100, Col. Centro, 50000, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico

    Pedro Alan Sainz-Sánchez, Felipe López-González, Julieta Gertrudis Estrada-Flores, Carlos Galdino Martínez-García & Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán

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  1. Pedro Alan Sainz-Sánchez
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  2. Felipe López-González
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  3. Julieta Gertrudis Estrada-Flores
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  4. Carlos Galdino Martínez-García
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  5. Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán
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Correspondence to Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán.

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Statement on ethical standards and animal rights

The paper reports on farm experiment undertaken with two participating farmers who had knowledge of the objectives of the work and were duly informed at all times, and their privacy and that of their family are respected by not disclosing their names. Experimental procedures with dairy cows followed the accepted procedures by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.

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Sainz-Sánchez, P.A., López-González, F., Estrada-Flores, J.G. et al. Effect of stocking rate and supplementation on performance of dairy cows grazing native grassland in small-scale systems in the highlands of central Mexico. Trop Anim Health Prod 49, 179–186 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-016-1178-3

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