Under-feeding can have serious long-term effect after calving

It is very important to realise that in the four weeks coming up to calving, the silage intake of cows drops off by 30-50%.

After calving, milk yield increases much more rapidly than intake capacity, resulting in a long period of under-feeding.

Peak milk yield is reached in about six weeks after calving, while peak appetite is not reached for about 12 weeks.