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Fifty primiparous Finnish Ayrshire cows were used in 2×2 factorial study. The factors were the protein-feeding strategy: constant (cCP) or variable (vCP) protein content in concentrate during lactation and the use of a commercial health product from 2 weeks pre- to 8 weeks postpartum. On treatment cCP, the CP content of the concentrate was 180 g/kg in dry matter (DM) throughout the lactation, and on vCP treatment, the CP content was 210, 180 and 150 g/kg DM during lactation days 0–100, 101–200 and 201–305, respectively. The concentrate blends included barley, oats, rapeseed meal, molassed sugar beet pulp and minerals and vitamins. Grass silage and ensiled wet sugar beet pulp (100 g/kg DM in TMR) were used as forage. The forage-to-concentrate ratio in TMR was 55:45 on both treatments. The experimental period was 305 days of the first lactation. The average daily milk yield (cCP: 26.3 kg/day vs. vCP: 27.5 kg/day) was higher (P

The effect of total mixed ration (TMR) with constant (TMR1) or decreasing (TMR3) proportion of concentrate in dry matter (DM) and with different crude protein (CP) content of concentrate (170 or 200 g/kg DM) on the performance of 51 first parity Ayrshire cows was studied. On TMR1 diet the forage to concentrate ratio in DM was 55:45 throughout the lactation. On TMR3 the forage to concentrate ratio was 45:55, 55:45 and 65:35 during the lactation days 0–100, 101–200 and 201–305, respectively. There was no significant interaction between feeding strategy (TMR1 or TMR3) and CP content of the concentrate on the performance parameters studied. Feeding strategy had no effect on energy corrected milk (ECM) production (26.6 vs. 27.1 kg/day), milk composition, DM intake (18.0 vs. 18.2 kg/day) or post partum development of the body condition score of the cows. The higher CP content of the concentrate increased (P

The performance of 45 primiparous Ayrshire cows fed total mixed ration (TMR) with constant (TMR1) or variable (TMR3) proportion of concentrate in dry matter was studied. On TMR1 treatment the forage to concentrate ratio of TMR was 53:47 in dry matter (DM) throughout the lactation. On TMR3 the forage to concentrate ratio increased during the lactation being 43:57, 53:47 and 63:37 on 0–100, 101–200 and 201–305 days post partum, respectively. The experimental period was 305 days of the first lactation. The feeding strategy had no significant effect on average milk yield. The energy corrected milk yield was 24.4 kg/day on TMR1 and 24.3 kg/day on TMR3 treatment. Also milk protein content was not affected by the treatment, but the milk fat content tended (P

A field study was conducted to study the relationships between average daily gain (ADG) of heifers and their first lactation milk yield. To predict the body weight (BW) the heart girth of 4058 heifers was measured by AI-technicians. Based on these measurements and national milk recording data, the ADGs before and after breeding were calculated. Other variables collected were after calving BW, calving age, and milk production yields on first lactation. After edits the final data included 2194 Ayrshire (Ay) and 738 Friesian (Fr) heifers and their 7215 relatives. Data used for calving BW and ADGs after breeding was 43% smaller because of missing information. The average BW and age at breeding were 356 kg and 483 days for Ay and 376 kg and 484 days for Fr, respectively. The after calving BW for Ay was 502 kg and for Fr 520 kg. The weights correspond to ADGs of 660 g (S.D. 99 g) and 695 g (S.D. 114 g) before breeding, and 497 g (S.D. 190 g) and 492 g (S.D. 196 g) after breeding for Ay and Fr breeds, respectively. The average 305-day milk yield for Ay was 6198 kg and for Fr 6440 kg. Positive genetic correlations between growth rate before (0.13±0.11) and after (0.34±0.17) breeding and milk yield as well as calving BW and milk yield (0.26±0.13) were found. The environmental correlation between ADG before breeding and milk yield was positive (0.13±0.04), while the ADG after breeding and milk yield was uncorrelated (−0.01±0.04). Based on the feeding trials a negative environmental correlation between ADG before breeding and milk yield could have been expected. It was concluded that the negative effect could not be estimated, because of the disturbance caused by herd effect. Also, the fact that most of the heifers had been reared within recommended limits of ADG could have affected the results.

The effect of different feeding intensity at two stages of gestation on performance of primiparous cows was studied in 40 pregnant Ayrshire cows. The feeding intensity was either medium (M) or high (H) in period 1 (2–6 months of pregnancy) or period 2 (7–9 months of pregnancy) resulting in treatments MM, MH, HM and HH. Before pregnancy all heifers were reared to gain 650 g/day. In period 1, heifers on H feeding intensity, grew significantly faster than heifers on M (844 vs. 638 g/day; SEM=18.9). Daily gains in period 2 were affected by feeding intensity in period 1 and were 710, 1042, 636 and 874 g on MM, MH, HM, and HH diets, respectively. The body weights at calving were 462, 498, 480 and 499 kg on MM, MH, HM and HH diet, respectively. Feeding intensity in period 1 had no effect on milk production, but H plane of nutrition in period 2 increased milk yield by approximately 11% (22.6 vs. 20.3 kg/day, P