This study evaluated the effect of the inclusion of condensed molasses solubles (CMS), a by-product of the rum industry, on dry matter intake (DMI), milk yield (MY), and income over feed costs (IOFC) in lactating dairy cows. Treatments consisted of totally mixed rations (TMR) with 0, 5, 10, or 15% (dry matter basis) of a 50:50 CMS/molasses mixture (as fed basis). Sixteen Holstein/Holstein cross milking cows were divided into 4 blocks by parity and days in milk (n=4) in a Latin Square cross over design (4 treatments x 4 periods). All animals were fed a TMR balanced for 14.33% crude protein and to provide 25.55 Mcal NEL/cow/day. All dairy cows were individually fed ad libitum each of the experimental diets for 14 days (7-d adaptation period followed by 7-d data collection). Dry matter intake was recorded daily with a Calan Feeding System™ and milk yield per cow was recorded daily with the Afimilk™ system. There was no difference in MY, fat % and protein % between treatments (P ≥ 0.2053). Average MY, fat and protein percentage were 17.39 ± 1.2 kg, 4.41 ± 0.18%, and 3.22 ± 0.11%, respectively. However, there were treatment differences (P < 0.001) on DMI. According to the multiple comparisons method in which with a significance level (0.05) there is no difference. Cows on 0% and 5% CMS had similar DMI of 10.21 ± 0.45 and 10.7 ± 0.48 kg/cow/day, respectively. However, cows on 10 and 15% CMS had higher DMI than treatments at 0% and 5%, 15.26 ± 0.46 and 11.97± 0.46 kg/cow/day, respectively. Experimental diet costs were $0.29, $0.28, $0.27/kg and $0.26/kg, for treatments 0, 5,10, and 15% CMS, respectively. Feed costs per cow per day were $2.96, $3.01, $3.13 for treatments 0, 5, and 15% CMS, respectively, and were lower than the cost ($4.16) of the 10% CMS treatment (P < 0.05). Assuming a constant income of $0.744/kg of fluid milk, IOFC per cow per day was $13.27, $12.63, $13.34, $12.51, for treatments 0, 5,10, and 15% CMS, respectively. Consequently, the IOFC per cow per day for treatments 0, 5, 10, and 15% CMS were $10.31, $9.56, $9.18, $9.38, respectively, but not statistically different. In conclusion, the inclusion of CMS in the diet of dairy cows was not economically advantageous.
The inclusion of CMS/Molasses (CMS) mixture (50:50; as fed basis) in the starter feed of Jersey calves was also evaluated to determine the effect of CMS on body development (weight, height at withers, hip height, length) vs. normal concentrate feed. Fourteen calves were divided into two groups, a control group (n=7) and a treatment group where the starter feed was mixed with 5% CMS/Molasses (DM basis) (n=7), were used. Animals’ health was monitored according to a University of Wisconsin protocol. All animals received an accelerated growth milk feeding protocol. that is, milk was fed to all animals in specific amounts according to the age of the calves. This milk contributes to weight gain and affects efficiency. It is also clarified that milk consumption was equal for all animals in the experiment, since when there was no complete milk consumption, this rejection was supplied with the use of a bottle or tube. It was found that for most of the parameters evaluated there was no differences between treatments. For withers height the results were 75.01 ± 1.38 cm CMS and 76.09 ± 1.36 cm CON (P= 0.8894 The BCS also did not present a difference observing 2.22 ± 0.13 CMS and 2.30 ± 0.13 CON (P=0.6601). For health, 1.36 ± 0.32 VNZ and 1.46 ± 0.31 CON score were observed (PV= 0.60). Temperature showed 38.75 ± 0.15℃ to CMS and 38.82 ± 0.14℃ to CON. For daily feed intake the results were 1.31 ± 0.13 kg for the CMS treatment and 1.46 ± 0.12 kg (PV= 0.99). For daily weight gain 0.93 ± 0.09 kg for CMS and 0.86 ± 0.09 kg for CON. For hip height 78.45 ± 1.34 VNZ and 78.72 ± 1.33 CON. For the only parameter that showed a tendency for difference was daily efficiency, where a better performance was found for animals supplemented with CMS, with an efficiency of 0.67 ± 0.15 for VNZ while for CON it was 0.42 ± 0.1 (P=0.0084). This difference under the conditions of this experiment shows that CMS can have a use in calf supplementation. This difference under the conditions of this experiment shows that VNZ can have a use in calf supplementation.