Comparison of Two Different Feeding Programs For Brown Swiss and Holstein Friesian Lactating Cows and Heifers

Purposes of the study were; i) to evaluate the effects of 2 different feeding programs on the yield, composition and organoleptic properties of milk from 20 brown swiss (bs) and 20 holstein friesian (hf) cows during 144 days in the trial 1, ii) to compare the growth performance of the 18 bs and 14 hf heifers during 90 days in the trial 2. in trial 1, feeding schedules [( i) corn silage (25.0 kg/head/day) plus limited amount of dry hay (5.0 kg/head/day) and 4.5 kg/head/day of concentrate (cs feeding program); ii) all dry hay (10.0 kg/head/day) and 4.5 kg/head/day of concentrate (dh feeding program)] did not significantly affect on daily milk yield as well as percentages of fat, dry matter and non-fat dry matter of the milk. the influence of the different feeding programs on the sensorial features of the milk was not significant, and feeding silage based ration did not cause any adverse effect on the organoleptic properties of the milk. in trial 2, heifers in the hcs feeding program [corn silage (10.0 kg/head/day) plus limited amount of dry hay (2.0 kg/head/day) and 2.0 kg/head/day of concentrate] had 49.7 % higher total weight gain than those in hdh feeding program [all dry hay (6.0 kg/head/day) and 2.0 kg/head/day of concentrate]. the average feed efficiency ratio for heifers fed in hcs feeding program was also improved considerably. in conclusion, hcs feeding program could be suggested for hf and bs heifers, although both feeding programs studied did not result in significant influence on the daily milk yield as well as milk composition and sensorial properties of the milk from hf and bs cows.