Effects of Dried Brewers Grains Levels in Diets on Milk Yields and Milk Compositions in Holstein Friesian Dairy Cows

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of dried brewers grains (DBG) levels on performances of lactating dairy cows, an experiment was conducted using 24 Holstein Friesian lactating dairy cows, averaging 472±11 kg liveweight, 4-5 years old. The cows were assigned at random into Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The blocks were allotted according to stage of lactating i.e. early and mid lactation. The 4 dietary treatments were 0%DBG, 10%DBG, 20%DBG and 30%DBG, which were the percentage of DBG on dry matter basis contained in the concentrates, respectively. The intake data (g/kg WW^0.75) for cows fed 10%DBG and 20%DBG were numerically different (p<0.05) from cows fed 30%DBG, dry matter and organic matter digestibility were tended to decrease in proportion of an increasing dried brewers grains (quadratic p<0.01, cubic p<0.03). Yields of milk for cows fed 20% DBG was numerically different from cows fed 10%DBG (18.7 kg and 18.4 kg respectively, p<0.05) and cows in both fed were numerically different from cows fed 10%DBG and 30%DBG (15.95 kg and 15.90 kg respectively, p<0.05). Percentage of milk fat and milk protein were tended to increase in proportion of an increasing dried brewers grains. Cows fed 20%DBG gave higher income over feed cows. This experiment indicates that diet containing 20%DBG can be fed to lactating dairy cows to increase financial return.