Olika utfodringssystem till mjölkkor i Hallands län

Sammanfattning: ABSTRACT When investing in a new feeding system there are both advantages and disadvantages, and there are a lot of opinions about the systems excellence. In this study, I compared Total Mixed Ration (TMR), Partly Mixed Ration (PMR) and individual feeding at 15 dairy farms located in Halland, the southwest parts of Sweden. During the visits, a one-day check-up was conducted where the feeding and milk yield was registered. Production data from 100's farms were also collected from the national dairy cow recording scheme to calculate lactation curves and milk urea. The systems were also compared as to economic investment. TMR is increasing in Sweden as the herd sizes are growing. However, the increase has ceased off due to the high proportion of AMS stables being built. With a robot there are rarely TMR systems because of its difficultness to get the cows to be motivated to go to the robot and be milked. However, there are both pros and cons with TMR. The study showed that the overfeeding on farms practicing TMR was higher than on farms practicing PMR and individual feeding. It was concluded that farms with TMR provide a flatter lactation curves and higher roughage intake but no difference was noted in milk yield, milk composition, feed efficiency and health. However the cows in the TMR systems had a significantly longer calving interval than the other systems. TMR was the system with lowest economic investment cost.