Digestive response of dairy cows fed diets combining fresh forage with a total mixed ration.

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to quantify the response of dairy cows fed a total mixed ration (TMR) to increasing access to high-quality temperate fresh forage with respect to energy intake, rumen fermentation, microbial protein flow, passage rate, nutrient digestion and utilization, and metabolic and endocrine profiles. Nine Holstein cows fed a TMR were assigned to the following treatments according to a 3×3 Latin square replicated 3 times with 20-d periods and sampling on the last 10 d of each period:0 (T0), 4 (T4), or 8 (T8) h of daily access to fresh forage.