Lucerne is also a highly nutritious forage for dairy cattle. It combines good digestibility with high protein. For dairy cattle, the most suitable feed type of lucerne is silage, whereas lucerne hay will be more suitable for feeding young stock or horses. Lucerne provides excellent milk yield despite the fact that lucerne silage has lower energy per kg dry matter compared to grass silage. However, farmers can enhance the feeding qualities of lucerne by cutting it earlier, just before flowering. This results in more energy and protein per kg dry matter.
The table below gives an example of the differences in forage qualities which can result from early cutting compared to late cutting.
Harvest stage |
Pre bloom |
Early bloom |
Mid bloom |
Crude Protein % |
21,1
|
18,9
|
14,7 |
ADF % |
30,2 |
33,0 |
38,0 |
NDF % |
40,5 |
42,0 |
52,5 |
Dry matter intake (kg/day) |
14,2 |
13,7 |
13,3 |
|
Lucernesilage
|
Maizesilage
|
Grass-silage
|
Sugar (g/kg TM) |
20 |
15 |
80 |
Starch (g/kg TM) |
0 |
320 |
0 |
NDF (g/kg TM) |
400 |
370 |
440 |
NDF-Digestibility % |
58% |
55% |
75% |
Crude protein (g/kg TM)
|
210 |
80 |
170 |
Energy for milk (MJ NEL) |
800 |
950 |
930 |
Dig. Protein (DVE)
|
55 |
58 |
75 |
In a diet lucerne brings protein and fibres (structure). Therefor it’s ideally combined with maize (for starch) and grasses (for sugars and digestible cell walls) as forage components. As an example, average quality of lucerne, maize and grass silage is shown above.