October 2017

Determining impact of lowering rumen degradable protein during times of heat stress was the focus of researchers in a recent Journal of Dairy Science article. Researchers exposed 18 primiparous and 30 multiparous mid-lactation cows to the prevailing Tennessee July and August temperature and humidity. One of four dietary treatments was randomly assigned to contain two proportions of rumen degradable protein (10 and 8%) and two proportions of rumen undegradable protein (8 and 6%) of dry matter.  Decreasing RDP and RUP proportions did not affect dry matter intake, whereas reducing RUP at 10% RDP had a small negative effect on energy-corrected milk yield. However, reduction of RDP and RUP consistently improved N-use efficiency of heat-stressed multiparous cows. The reduction of RDP and RUP proportions reduced DMI and milk yield but did not affect energy-corrected milk yield in primiparous cows, indicating a limited supply of nutrients. Learn more here.

Taken from summaries of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin with the full report available in the Journal of Dairy Science

J.D. Kaufman, K.R. Kassube, A.G. Ríus
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-13026