Increasing per cow milk solids production in a pasture-based dairy system by manipulating the diet: A review

Research suggests that thegenetic potential formilksolids (MS) production by New Zealanddairy cows isconsiderably under-exploited undercurrent grazing conditions.There is also agrowing awareness that only small improvements in MS production percow can be achieved with pasture-only systems on high producing New Zealand dairy farms (i.e. those producing 3 15kg MS/cow or 1 ,Okg MS/ha). The review identifies nutritional limitations of a pasture-based diet as one of the batriers to further increases in per cow MS production. It is argued that further increases in per cow production on New Zealand’s high producing (in terms of per cow MS production) dairy farms is contingent upon the need to balance the pasture-based diet for protein, carbohydrates, fibre, minerals and vitamins through strategic use of feedstuffs. One of the keys to successfully balancing a pasture-based diet is to obtain better data on the nutritional status of pasture throughout the year so that the most economic feedstuffs which will balance the ration can be identified.