Supplementary feeding to dairy cows grazing tropical pasture: a review

There is general agreement that under intensive systems of dairy production in the tropics some degree of supplementary feeding might be necessary to maximize individual yields. A review by Jeffrey (1971) on the role of supplementary feeding concluded, however, that the data then available from tropical work was too limited to provide meaningful guidelines on the rational use of supplements. During the last decade, there has been increased activity in this area of dairy cattle research and the present review attempts to summarize some of the evidence from published work.