Sward characteristics, grass dry matter intake and milk production performance are affected by pre-grazing herbage mass and pasture allowance J. Curran a,b , L. Delaby c , E. Kennedy a , J.P. Murphy a , T.M. Boland b , M. O'Donovan a, ⁎ a Teagasc, Moorepark Dairy Production Research Centre, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland b School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland c INRA, UMR 1080, Production du Lait, F-35590 St Gilles, France article info abstract Article history: Received 5 May 2009 Received in revised form 31 August 2009 Accepted 3 September 2009 The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-grazing herbage mass (HM) and pasture allowance (PA) on sward characteristics, milk production performance, dry matter intake (DMI) and rumen fermentation of spring calving dairy cows. Sixty-four Holstein–Friesian dairy cows (mean calving date, February 11) were balanced and randomly assigned to one of four treatments (n = 16) in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Two swards, a low HM (L HM) sward (1600 kg dry matter (DM)/ha) and a high HM (H HM) sward (2400 kg DM/ha), were created by varying the regrowth interval before the study start date, with two PA, 15 and 20 kg DM/cow/ day imposed on each sward. Animals fitted with rumen cannula (n = 4) moved in a complete Latin square to investigate the effect of HM and PA on rumen fermentation. The study lasted 30 weeks and was analysed as two periods; PI (April 9–July 20) and PII (July 21–October 31). Sward structural characteristics, grass dry matter intake (GDMI) and rumen fermentation were investigated during PI and PII. The mean HM was 1551 kg DM/ha and 2678 kg DM/ha for L HM and H HM respectively in PI, and 1753 kg DM/ha and 2281 kg DM/ha for the L HM and H HM respectively in PII. During PII, the leaf proportion (> and <40 mm) was higher in the L HM swards than the H HM swards. There was a lower dead proportion > 40 mm in the L HM swards compared to the H HM swards. In PI, the L HM treatments had significantly higher milk production (+ 0.9 kg), milk protein yield (+ 42.4 g/day) and milk lactose yield (+ 42.9 g/day). Increasing PA increased milk yield (+ 1.1 kg; + 1.8 kg), solids-corrected milk (+0.9 kg; + 1.3 kg), protein (+ 67.9 g/day; + 63.5 g/day) and lactose (+ 55.2 g/day; + 80.1 g/day) yield in PI and PII respectively. The milk response per kilogram of GDMI was 1.13 kg for the L HM animals compared to 0.65 kg for the H HM animals. Rumen pH was lower for animals grazing the L HM swards (pH 5.69) than for animals grazing the H HM swards (pH 5.88) with no adverse rumen conditions evident. The results of this study suggest that L HM (1600 kg DM/ha) and 20 kg PA had a positive effect on sward characteristics which resulted in increased milk production and sward quality. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sward characteristics Milk production Grass dry matter intake Rumen pH 1. Introduction The objective of the predominantly spring calving Irish dairy herd is to maximise the contribution of fresh herbage to the diet of the lactating cow and milk output/ha. Within this system maximising voluntary dry matter intake (DMI) is one of the key challenges to increasing milk yield/cow while optimising stocking rate for efficient utilisation of the avail- able resources (Dillon et al., 2005). Striking the correct balance between herbage quality and quantity is a key driver in grass-based production systems with pasture allowance (PA) and pre-grazing herbage mass (HM) Livestock Science 127 (2010) 144–154 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +353 25 42395; fax: +353 25 42340. E-mail address: michael.odonovan@teagasc.ie (M. O'Donovan). 1871-1413/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2009.09.004 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Livestock Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/livsci