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Grazing management has an important impact on dairy ruminants’ performance. References on the intake and milk yield of dairy goats under strip-grazing systems in temperate regions are scarce. In order to study the effect of pasture allowance on pasture intake (PI), milk yield and grazing behaviour, a trial was carried out in spring with 36 Alpine goats in mid-lactation. Three daily pasture allowances (PA=1.7, 2.6 and 3.5 kg dry matter (DM)/day, namely Low, Medium and High, respectively) were compared in a 3 × 3 Latin square design replicated six times during three successive 14-day periods. Goats individually received 268 g DM of concentrate twice daily at each milking and had access 11 h/day to pasture (from 08h30 to 16h00 and from 17h30 to 21h00). Pasture intake increased with PA, and more so between Low and Medium than between Medium and High (+216 v. +101 g DM/kg DM of PA). Milk yield was lower on Low than on Medium and High (2.79 v. 3.13 kg/day), as were milk fat and protein yields. Grazing time averaged 476 min/day and was lowest on Low and greatest on Medium. Pasture intake rate was 30 g DM/h lower on Low and Medium than on High. It is concluded that under temperate conditions, when goats are supplemented with 536 g DM of concentrate and have enough access time to pasture (11 h/day), a medium pasture allowance close to 2.6 kg DM/day may be sufficient to maximise milk yield. Implications: Grazing may increase feed self-sufficiency in dairy goat pro-duction systems. Pasture may have a good nutritional value, but the milk yield of goats is largely affected by grazing management. This study provides new guidelines on nutrition and behaviour of grazing dairy goats according to pasture allow- ance that may help farmers to better manage their grazing systems under temperate conditions.
Keywords : nutrition, ytterbium, production, eating time, lifecorder

A consulter ici : https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/animal/article/intake-milk-yield-and-grazing-behaviour-of-stripgrazing-alpine-dairy-goats-in-response-to-daily-pasture-allowance/990F8FE4EFBEE42699D1029C4F715CF7