Betaine improves milk and component yield in grazing

dairy cows supplemented with concentrates in summer

Frank R. Dunshea, Kenny Oluboyede, Kristy DiGiacomo, Brian J. Leury, Jeremy J. Cottrell

Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Conclusion
Dietary betaine can alleviate some of the negative effects of heat stress on milk and component yield in dairy cows.

Hypothesis
Dietary betaine will act as an osmolyte thereby reducing ion pumping and heat production and protect against heat stress.

Aim
To determine the effect of dietary betaine on milk and component yield of grazing dairy cows in late summer.

Methods
One hundred and eighteen grazing Friesian x Holstein cows
were paired on days in milk and within each pair randomly
allocated to receive a concentrate supplement containing
either 0 or 2 g/kg of natural betaine (Danisco Animal
Nutrition) for 4 weeks during February/March 2015 (late
Australian summer). The mean maximum temperature was
30 oC.

Cows were graxed as one herd and allocated ca. 15 kg DM

of pasture and 7.5 kg of concentrates per cow per day.
Therefore, cows on the betaine diet received ca. 15 g
betaine per day. Cows were milked in an automatic milking
system (Lely AMS) 3 x daily and received their supplement
in the milking parlour. The research farm was divided into 3
farmlets and the cows rotated through each of the farmlets
daily.
Fresh pasture was allocated to all cows after each milking
and cows were allowed to walk (up to 0.75 km) to and enter
the milking parlour of their own free will within each allocated
milking period. Incentives to enter the parlour included
mammary gland pressure, access to concentrates,
diminished pasture access and quality in the currently
grazed paddock, access to a new paddock and back
scratcher (Figure 1)
Figure 2: Effect of dietary betaine (2g/kg supplement or ca. 15 g per day) on
milk yield of grazing cows in lagte summer.
Results and Discussion
Betaine supplementation increased average daily milk yield by
5% (22.6 vs 23.7 kg/d, P<0.001) with the response increasing
as the study progressed as indicated by the interaction
(P<0.001) between dietary betaine and day.
Milk protein (P=0.98) and fat (P=0.46) content were
unchanged by dietary betaine. However, betaine
supplementation increased milk protein yield (706 vs 741 g/d,
P<0.001) and fat yield (903 vs 943 g/d, P<0.001) with
responses again being more pronounced as the study
progressed.

The greatest responses in milk and component yield occurred

Figure 1: Cow having back scratched as leaving the AMS.
Results were analysed for the effects of betaine and day of
treatment and the interaction using an ANOVA in Genstat
v.15 and pre-treatment values as covariates.
around days 12 and 19 when there was a marked reduction in
milk yield in the control cows whereas the betaine cows
maintained milk production. Interestingly, these times
coincided with days when the overnight temperature remained
above 26oC. It is interesting to speculate that the cows
consuming the betaine supplement had a lower rate of heat
production and so may have been better able to dissipate
accumulated heat when the overnight temperature remained
elevated.
In conclusion, dietary betaine supplementation increased milk
and component yield during late summer in grazing dairy
cows fed concentrate supplements.