Search results for " dairy cows"

Effects of grazing on welfare and production traits of organic dairy cows

2013

In organic livestock systems, grazing is the preferred feeding source, especially for animal welfare and health implications, but it is not an obliged practice. In order to contribute on this topic, in an organic dairy farm, grazing was compared with permanent free-stall housing using two homogeneous groups of eight Bruna cows allocated to the following regimes: (G) grazing on barley grass for 5 h/d, and then kept in a free-stall structure and fed with unifeed, composed of hay and concentrate; (S) kept in a free-stall building for 24 h/d and fed with a diet based on the same unifeed. Comparison was based on milk production, behaviour, immune responses, metabolic status and oxidative stress …

Wheat bran as dietary tool to improve dairy production, oxidative status of lactating cows and food sustainability indexes.

2017

Wheat bran (WB), an inexpensive by-product widely available in southern Italy, is largely used as component of feed for ruminants, contributing to decrease the use of food suitable for human consumption, thus to improve the sustainability of livestock production. However, the potential benefits of WB, due to its content in polyphenolic compounds, mainly consisted of ferulic acid, in improving rumen conditions and the antioxidant balance of animals, and also providing animal products with functional properties, are not yet well known. Accordingly, this experiment was carried out for 100 days with 36 lactating Italian Simmental cows divided into 3 groups receiving one of 3 concentrates includ…

Milk fatty acids of cows grazing a mountain diversified grassland is highly affected by the maturity stage of the grass.

2009