Abstract #T202

# T202
Lactational performance of early lactation, high-producing dairy cows fed corn silage produced by different seed corn hybrids.
Ishwary Acharya*1, Mark Kirk2, David Casper1, 1Dairy Science Department, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, 2Masters Choice, Anna, IL.

Twenty-one (6 primiparous and 15 multiparous) high producing early lactation Holstein cows were fed one of 3 experimental corn silages harvested from the planting of 3 different seed corn hybrids from wk 4 through wk 14 postpartum. Corn hybrids (Control (C): Dekalb and Masters Choice: MC1 and MC2) were planted and harvested as corn silage during the 2012 growing season. Corn silage was harvested using a kernel processor silage harvester, inoculated, and ensiled in either a bunker or individual Ag Bags. Total mixed rations were formulated to be isonitrogenous at 17.5% CP consisting of 15.9% alfalfa hay, 35.1% concentrate mix and 48% of the respective experimental corn silage (DM basis). Cows were blocked by calving date and parity and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments in a randomized complete block design. Data collected the third wk postpartum was used as a covariate in Least Squares Analysis of Covariance via the PROC MIXED procedure (SAS Institute). Dry matter intake (22.9, 23.5, and 22.4 kg/d for C, MC1, and MC2, respectively), milk yield (35.6, 34.8, and 36.1 kg/d), 3.5% fat-corrected milk (FCM) yield (38.7, 36.5, and 37.6 kg/d), energy corrected milk yield (38.2, 36.1, and 38.1 kg/d), feed efficiency (1.79, 1.61, and 1.67 kg/kg; 3.5% FCM/ DMI), milk fat (4.17, 3.94, and 3.71%), milk protein (3.12, 3.09, and 3.03%), lactose (4.93, 4.92, and 4.92%), solid-not-fat (8.96, 8.92, and 8.85%), body weight change (−0.10, −0.06, and −0.08 kg/d), and body condition score change (−0.05, −0.04, and −0.05 score/d) were similar for early lactation dairy cows fed all corn silage hybrids. Milk urea nitrogen was significantly (P < 0.05) lower for cows fed C (13.64) compared with cows fed MC1 and MC2 corn silage (15.0, and 15.0 mg/dL). This study demonstrated that different seed corn hybrids for the production of corn silage were similar in lactational performance.

Key Words: corn silage, corn hybrid, high-producing dairy cow