A farmer may have questions like when is she or he required to give dairy meal to a lactating animal? At milking time or hours before and in what quantities?
Experiments to determine the effect of feeding before milking (FBM); feeding during milking (FDM) or feeding after milking (FAM) have been carried out by many researchers.
The results indicate that FDM does not only lead to higher milk production but also better quality due to higher yields of protein and lactose.
The research findings are attributed to secretion of the pituitary hormones oxytocin and prolactin, and the gastrointestinal hormone somatostatin when animals feed during milking.
Prolactin is a hormone for lactation while oxytocin is for milk let-down. FDM is therefore a good agricultural practice.
The amount of concentrate given to a cow depends on its potential milk production.
For a cow that produces seven litres of milk per day, no concentrate supplementation is required but for every 1.5 litre increase in milk from seven litres, add one litre of concentrate.
To know the potential milk production of a cow, change the feeds by gradually adding more concentrate.
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