Effects of Frequency of Feeding on Production Characteristics and Feed Utilization in Lactating Dairy Cows

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Abstract
Manuscript No. 468. 1961. A 3 x 3 Latin-square design was used with 3 groups of 3 cows and treatments of 2, 4, or 7 feedings daily. The effect of increased frequency of feeding on various production characteristics was reflected in trends of increasing pounds of milk production, pounds of 4% fat-corrected milk (35.1 lb., 40.1 lb., and 40.4 lb. when fed 2, 4, or 7 times daily), pounds and per cent of milk fat, pounds of solids-not-fat, and pounds of total solids daily per cow. Feeding interval had no effect on body weights. Increased frequency of feeding resulted in more total feed intake and a decreasing amplitude in the daily fecal chromium oxide excretion curve. When fed 2, 4 or 7 times daily, the digestibility of dry matter, as determined by the chromium oxide ratio technique, was 51.59, 55.52, and 55.10%, respectively.