Short-term mixed pastures of Lolium multiflorum, Avena sativa and Vicia sativa or Lolium multiflorum × Festuca pratensis, Avena strigosa and Vicia villosa for grazing low yielding dairy cows during winter in small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of Mexico

Abstract

The study was undertaken to assess yield and herbage quality of two mixed short-term pastures of grass, oat, and vetch during the winter dry season for grazing low yielding dairy cows. The mixed pastures were termed as conventional (CON) and experimental (EXP) mixtures. CON was annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum cv. Westerwolds), common oat (Avena sativa cv. Chihuahua) and common vetch (Vicia sativa), and EXP was festulolium (Lolium multiflorum × Festuca pratensis cv. Spring Green), black oat (Avena strigosa cv. Saia), and winter vetch (Vicia villosa cv. Naomi). Eight low yielding Holstein cows with 462.4±43.16 kg live weight, 3.4±0.1 body condition score, milk yield of 5.1±1.7 kg/cow/day, and 135.2±88.4 days in milk were continuously grazed 4 cows/ha. A double cross-over design with 4 experimental periods was followed for animal variables. There was a significant change in net herbage accumulation on pastures between experimental periods; and no differences in animal variables. There were no significant effects in animal variables, but milk yields increased two-fold from pre-experimental yields indicating the potential of quality pastures to improve productivity in small-scale dairy systems.

Keywords

• Dry season
• Feeding strategies
• Grazing
• Herbage production
• Mexico
• Mixed pastures