The animals with an average daily milk production of 20 kg received grass silage and a constant mineral supplement (4 dag cattle salt, 6 dag mineral mixture).

The proportion of golden oats in the ration was produced by mixing a golden oat-free and a golden oat-rich grass silage (90% golden oats per kg T, chopped), according to the requirements of the experimental group. The KF share was 20% in the total T. Food was provided twice daily ad libitum (leftover food 10%). The grass silages should not differ significantly in their crude fiber content.

The feeding trial lasted over a period of 12 weeks. Each animal was included in each treatment (experimental group). This resulted in a number of 4 repetitions (WH) and 12 evaluable animals per treatment. Before each repetition, the animals were fed uniformly with the golden oat-free grass silage (VP=previous period=control ration) for 7 days. The animals then received the experimental ration in each repetition for 14 days, with the last 10 days being used for evaluation.

Figure 1: Experimental procedure

Table 1: Experimental plan

Table 2: Latin Square (Animals A...L)

Surveys (previous period and main period):

daily: dry matter, feed intake, milk production, milk ingredients  

weekly: blood parameters, live mass, bulk sample milk mineral content

monthly: nutrient analyzes - grass silages