Management practices of dairy cows grazing kale

Abstract

Regaining body condition lost throughlactation is a common goal for manyNZ dairy systems. Kale is a major component of the winter diet for dairy cows, with high DM yield carried through winter with less deterioration in nutritive value compared toother feeds. But body condition gain on kale oftendoes not meet farmers expectations. This presentation looks at the use of kale as a winter feed crop compared with other crops such as fodder beet.