LEGUME SUPPLEMENTATION TO DRY COW .1. PRE-CALVING FEEDING SYSTEM WITHNONIRRIGATED LEUCAENA AND FERTILIZED AND IRRIGATED GUINEA LIKONI

A total of 117 calvings from Holstein cows for 2 years with Leucaena l eucoecphala cv. Peru feeding system was employed to determine its poss ible use in pregnant cows. The measurements studied were: pre- and pos t calving live weight, pre-calving gin according to the number of lact ations, days dry and live weight of dry cows. Also, percentage of stil lbirths end clinical indices of the newborn animal were measured. A pr e-calving gin of 663 g/cow/day in the last 60 days were obtained. The advantages of this feeding system are directly related to the duration of the dry period, number of lactations and live weight of dry cows. The animals with less lactations or weight at drying had higher rates of gain. It was concluded that the Leucaena leucocephala feeding syste m is adequate for the feeding of pregnant cows.