The effect of replacing grass silage with pea/wheat bi-crops in dairy cow diets on feed intake, concentrate utilization and milk production

Abstract

One of the ways by which UK farmers can maintain profitability in the current low milk price climate is to increase home-grown forage utilization in livestock diets. Previous work has shown that pea/wheat bi-crops are energy and protein rich forages that give higher intakes and nitrogen (N) retention than grass silage but only marginal improvements in milk production (Adesogan et al., 2000). This study determined whether the milk response from such bi-crops could be improved by using a short-straw pea variety instead of the conventional tall straw variety.