The effects of stocking rate and residual sward height on forage production, feeding strategies, and productivity of milking dairy cows.

The dataset contains information of four farmlet evaluated during three years.
production and quality.
The aim of this research was to compare milk, solids production and forage usage and the associated feeding strategies for crossbred Holstein–Jersey dairy cows, stocked at two different rates (SR, 1.5 and 2.0 cow per ha) combined with two levels of post-grazing residual on a typical uruguayan dairy grazing system.
Herbage production was not different between treatments, however, harvest strategy was affected by SR, where SR 2.0 harvested more forage directly compared to SR 1.5. Therefore, less mechanic harvest was performed on SR 2.0 compared to 1.5 with no effect on RH. Milk productivity was impacted by the SR level and a positive interaction was detected between SR and RH on milk and solids productivity. Individual milk production was not influenced by SR or RH. The amount of concentrate, forage and conserved forage were affected by SR with a positive interaction between SR and RH, thus, the highest amount of needed supplement corresponded to 2.0 HR. Moreover, 2.0 LR and 2.0 HR farmlets were more dependent on input than 1.5 LR and 1.5 HR. This study demonstrated the feasibility to increase productivity by achieving high forage harvest efficiencies from home-grown production by different strategies involving SR and RH.