Digestibility Experiments with Dairy Cows Consuming Different Quantities of Concentrates

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Abstract
Two digestibility experiments were con- ducted with both high- and low-yielding dairy cows (a total of 63 cows). All cows were part of a long-term experiment and were fed 7 kg hay, 1 kg dry beet pulp, and a crushed concentrate mixture. The quantity of concentrates in Experiment 1 ranged from 3.0 to 13.5 kg and in Experi- ment 2 from 0 to 15.7 kg per cow and day. The feces were quantitatively collected for 10 days. There is good fit to a straight line be- tween consumed and digested organic matter, consumed and digested crude pro- tein, consumed and digested ether extract, and consumed and digested nitrogen-free extract even with as high a consumption of concentrates as 15.7 kg per cow and day. Cows have digested the concentrates to the same extent regardless of the quantity consumed. There seems no reason to as- sume a lower digestibility at high feed consumption as long as the animals are adapted to a normal feeding ration with long hay and crushed concentrates.