Milk traits of lactating cows submitted to feed restriction

Data from five experiments with dairy cows where feed was restricted to 0, 40, and 50 % of the ad libitum amount, with 259 observations, were subjected to multivariate analyses to determine the effects of severity and duration of feed restriction on production, physical-chemical characteristics, ethanol stability, and somatic cell score of milk. A negative relationship was seen between the severity and duration of feed restriction with milk production, lactose content, titratable acidity, and milk stability to the ethanol test. The milk stability to the ethanol test, protein content, milk yield, and somatic cells score were the most important attributes retained by the discriminant analysis. Milk stability to the ethanol test, live weight, days in restriction, and pH were the most important characteristics explaining the variance within the different levels of feed restriction. Milk production and ethanol stability were significantly lower in both levels of feed restriction compared with the group fed ad libitum. When feed restriction was followed by refeeding, the difference observed in ethanol stability was the first discriminant variable, followed by the difference in unstable milk frequency and titratable acidity. Increments in the severity and duration of feed restriction negatively affect milk production and milk ethanol stability.