Evaluation of production, rumination, milk fatty acid profile, and profitability for organic dairy cattle fed sprouted barley fodder

Abstract Text: Certified-organic cows (n = 36) were used to evaluate the effect of feeding sprouted barley fodder to dairy cows on production, SCS, body weight, BCS, daily rumination, milk fatty acid profile, and profitability.  Cows were assigned to one of two replicated treatment groups (4 groups, n=9 cows each group), 1) no fodder supplementation, or 2) fodder supplementation at 9.1 kg/cow/d.  Supplement was fed with a total mixed ration of organic corn silage, alfalfa haylage, and an organic grain mix (corn and minerals).  The fodder replaced 2.7 kg of DM of organic corn.  The no Fodder cows were fed 3.6 kg of organic grain in the supplement.  The study was conducted at the University of Minnesota’s West Central Research and Outreach Center, Morris, MN.  For 70 d during the summer of 2015, 28 fodder trays (0.6 m x 1.8 m) from a FarmTek Fodder Pro system were filled with 4.1 kg of pre-soaked barley grain, which was soaked for 24 hours, to produce sprouted barley fodder.  Each tray was automatically watered three times a day for 4 min each time.  Weekly milk production, monthly milk components, and bi-weekly BW and BCS were recorded for each of the four replicate groups. Activity and rumination time (daily) were monitored electronically using HR-LD Tags (SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel). Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS on a pen basis. Independent variables for analyses were the fixed effects week of study and fodder supplementation group and replicate was a random effect.  Milk production and SCS were not different (P > 0.05) for the fodder (12.3 kg/d, 3.63) and no fodder (13.3 kg/d, 3.55) supplementation groups.  Furthermore, BW (503 kg vs. 505 kg) and BCS (3.17 vs. 3.17) for fodder and no fodder cows were not different.  The fodder cows tended (P < 0.10) to have less rumination (519 min/day vs. 550 min/day) compared to the no fodder cows.  The fodder cows tended (P< 0.10) to have a lower Omega 6-3 ratio (1.16 vs. 1.40) than the no fodder cows.  Net income per cow per day was similar for fodder ($2.96 cow/d vs. $3.18 cow/d) and no fodder cows, respectively.  In summary, the results show that sprouted barley fodder may have no benefit in an organic production system.

Keywords:

sprouted fodder, production, organic