Grass Consumption – How much will cows eat?

Although recent research suggest that cows can consume up to 20.7 kg of grass dry matter per day during early lactation, such intakes may not be "common" on most farms since:

They were recorded during June/July when grass dry matters are normally significantly higher than April or May.

They were also recorded with mature cows in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th lactations. A typical UK herd will include around 25% first lactation heifers that possess a lower intake capacity.

Grass consumption is more typically between 12 – 17 kg DM per day. In addition, the cow herself is influenced by a number of factors associated with sward characteristics, grazing time and buffer feeding.

Zero grazed, fresh weight grass, fed to cows each day at a trial carried out by the Kingshay Trust established that in wet weather, cows had to consume 100 kgs each to achieve a grass dry matter intake of 15 kgs. On drier days this was reduced to only 75 ks per head.