Silage and milk production: a comparison between barley and dried sugar‐beet pulp as silage supplements

Two grass silages made from perennial ryegrass, and with D‐values of 0·216 and 0·255, were offered ad libitum to 18 Ayrshire cows in two feeding experiments. On the control treatment the silages were supplemented with soybean meal only, and on the other two treatments with equal weights of DM from either barley or dried molassed sugar‐beet pulp plus the same weight of soya as on the control treatment. The daily intakes of silage DM were not significantly different on the barley and beet‐pulp treatments, and, on average, the intake of silage DM was reduced by 0·24 and 0·20 kg by feeding 1 kg barley and beet pulp DM respectively. The daily milk yields were not significantly different on the barley and beet‐pulp treatments with mean values of 19·2 and 19·2 kg per cow respectively compared with 17·2 kg on the control treatment. On the barley and beet‐pulp treatments the fat, SNF, CP and lactose concentrations in the milk and the live weights of the cows were not significantly different. It is concluded that the barley and beet pulp had similar feeding values and replacement rates when used as supplements with grass silage, and that the two feeds were interchangeable on an equal DM basis.