Elizabeth Prough

An Sci 427 Research Paper

April 1, 2016

High milk yield and the components within milk from dairy cows
are important to most dairy farmers everywhere. There are many
studies about how to get the best milk yield; whether it is milking more
than twice a day, type of environment the cow lives in, photoperiod, or
what is in the cows diet. However, the focus of this paper is on timing
of feed delivery and its impact on lactation. At the Penn State dairy
farms, the cows are fed once in the morning and they have their feed
all day. The research papers discuss whether it would be beneficial to
feed dairy cows at different times as opposed to once a day in the
morning.
Overall these six journal articles found that there was minimal to
no effect on total milk yield when dairy cattle were fed at different
times. Although there was not a significant change in milk production,
the components in the milk changed throughout the various trials.
One study had cows being fed at milking times and the other group
being fed between milking times (King, 2016). Another study had
three groups where one group was fed in the morning, one group was
fed half in the morning and half in the evening, and the last group was
fed in the evening (Calamari, 2012). Another study fed the cows once

a day versus four times a day (Rottman, 2014). Three studies looked
at feeding cattle in the morning versus feeding cattle at nighttime.
Dairy farmers tend to feed their cattle during milking so that they
have fresh feed when they are done milking. The cows will remain
standing if they have access to food right away because they will want
to eat. This allows time for the sphincter muscle to contract and close
the teat end. When cows do not have access to feed right after
milking, they most likely will not remain standing creating an increased
probability that they will get infection from bacteria entering the teat
end. However, researchers found that the cows spent 12.5% more
time per day feeding when they were not fed at milking time. The
delay could have created more stable rumen conditions which
improved the efficiency of nitrogen utilization and retention, better
fiber and crude protein digestibility, increased volatile fatty acid
absorption energy, and protein acquired from feed and microbial
protein synthesis. This could be why there was greater efficiency of
milk production when the cows were fed delayed from milking time.
This was because the dry matter intake for cows fed delayed from
milking were 0.7 kg/d lower. This dry matter intake decrease means
that the cows are eating their feed in smaller and more frequent
amounts making it easier for the cow to digest the feed and create
milk (King, 2016).

Cows fed at night instead of in the morning were found to

improve feed efficiency, reduce the effects of heat stress, and improve
lactation. Cows that were fed at night ate less feed, but their milk
yield did not change from the cows that were fed in the morning. The
cows that were fed at night also lost less energy than the cows that
were fed during the day because of this they were able to use their
energy more efficiently to produce milk. The reason the cows fed at
night did not lose as much energy is because when a cow eats and
digests they put off a lot of metabolic heat. If it is a particularly hot
day the cows will be producing a lot of heat and losing energy they
could be putting towards milk production. Dairy cows produce this
large amount of heat because they have a compromised cooling
capability during the hot hours of the day (Calamari, 2012). It may be
more beneficial for dairy farms to feed their cows at night during the
summer months or if they live in very warm climates. There was no
significant difference between milk components of the cows fed at
different times. There were however, slightly higher fat and protein
concentrations in the milk of the night fed cows. The cows that were
fed at night had 0.3-0.8 g/kg more fat in their milk and 0.3-0.4 g/kg
more protein. They found that the cows fed at night had a higher milk
production and a lower dry matter intake (Aharoni, 2004).
Another study changed the feeding time from morning to night
and they found that it did not affect the daily dry matter intake for the

cows. This study found that the change in milking time did not change
the protein in the milk, but it did increase the milk fat percentage from
2.5-2.9% and the milk fat yield from 0.98- 1.20kg/d in the cows that
had a calf before but not in the cows that were having their first calf.
This study found that there are benefits to feeding cows at night
instead of morning because it increases the milk fat production, but
that seems to only be in cows that have had calves before. The reason
that the milk fat was increased in just cows that had calves before and
not in the first calf heifers was unknown (Nikkhah, 2008).
A different study looking at cows fed in the morning versus cows
fed at night found that the percentage and yield of milk fat was higher
in cows fed at night. The cows fed at night had 3.57% fat and the cows
fed in the morning had 3.25%. This increase in milk fat produced by
the cows fed in the evening is the same finding as the study cited
before. This was explained by the cows fed during the day would sort
for the smaller feed particles than those fed in the evening which could
have resulted in a low rumen pH which lowers the milk fat in cows fed
in the morning. This was not proven in the study because they did not
monitor the rumen pH. Another reason this could be happening would
be that they have more access to precursors for milk fat synthesis right
after feeding in the evening creating a higher milk fat in these cows.
Insulin resistance in mucosal tissues like the skin was higher in the
evening. The more insulin resistance goes along with a higher

availability of precursors for milk fat synthesis. This would mean that
there is higher milk fat synthesis due to the insulin resistance of
adipose tissue increases lipolysis and therefore increases the
availability of fatty acids for milk fat synthesis (Nikkhah, 2010).
Another study looked at three different feeding schedules, one in
the morning, one at night, and half in the morning and half at night,
they found that only milk protein content and yield were higher in the
cows fed in the morning. This was different from the previous studies
that said that the fat yield increased in the cows fed in the evening.
The cows fed in the morning had 3.42 g/100mL and the cows fed in the
evening only had 3.27 g/100 mL and the cows fed a half in the morning
and half at night had 3.36 g/100mL. The finding was similar to
previous studies was that found being fed in the morning was not as
healthy for the cows welfare during warm seasons. It is especially
important for dairy cows on a high-energy diet like all lactating cows
should be. The change of feeding time from morning to night
increased the dry matter intake within the first 3 hours after feeding,
but overall the dry matter intake was not affected daily.

This could be

explained because of the availability of the fresh feed or the normal

behavior of the cows after milking that stimulates them to eat. The
availability of the feed throughout the day encouraged the animals to
spend more time eating so that they distribute their intake over the
entire day to maintain a stable rumen microbial balance. The fat

content and milk fat yield in the cows fed in the evening were not
affected. They found that the time you feed cows does not affect milk
composition directly however, it could play a roll in how efficiently the
cow produces milk. Heat stress in cows decreases the milk beta casein
and alpha s casein concentration, which results in an increase
percentage of whey protein of the total milk protein level. This could
affect protein synthesis in the mammary gland (Calamari, 2016).
Another study where cows were fed once a day versus four
times a day they were observing the pattern of milk synthesis and how
it reacts to the timing of feed consumption. Milk fat and protein
concentration and yield had a reduced rhythm of milk synthesis in the
cows fed four times a day. Milk fat percent was higher in the cows fed
four times a day and it was 0.22-0.45% higher and there was also an
increase in the daily milk fat yield. Milk fat is the most responsive to
nutritional and environmental changes. Milk protein is also responsive
to nutritional and environmental changes, but it is not as responsive as
fat is. The amount of milk protein concentration was reduced in the
four times a day fed cows, but the amount of protein yield was
increased. The overall daily weighted average milk protein
concentration was 0.06% higher in the one time a day fed cows. Dry
matter intake increased in the four times a day fed cows. This could be
because the process of milking and offering fresh feed stimulates
feeding. The change in protein could be due to changes in insulin in

the cow. The administration of insulin increases milk protein through

the stimulation of IGF-1. The timing of amino acid absorption could
also impact milk protein synthesis. The microbial protein would peak
later in the day following a peak ruminal fermentation and microbial
growth in cows fed once per day in the morning. Cows absorb
ammonia through the rumen epithelium and the rate is increased when
the rumen ammonia increases because the rate of protein degradation
is greater than the rate of ammonia used by the microbes. In general
giving feed four times a day decreased the amount of milk synthesis
(Rottman, 2014).
In conclusion, all of the journals found that the milk yield was not
affected by the time of day that a cow gets fed. Milk components like
protein and fat changed and typically the fat would increase in the
cows fed at night. It was found that it could be more beneficial to feed
cows at night when it is hot so that the cows do not expend valuable
energy that could be put into milk synthesis. It is important to feed
cows directly after milking so that they stand until their teat ends
close, however one study said that waiting to feed cows a few hours
after milking could be better. This topic of cow nutrition and its impact
on milk synthesis is still an ongoing topic for researchers everywhere.

Bibliography

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