Effects of dietary crude protein concentration on late-lactation dairy cow performance and indicators of nitrogen utilization.

The objectives of this study were to measure performance responses and to evaluate indictors of N utilization in late-lactation cows fed diets with incremental reductions in crude protein (CP) concentration. Holstein cows (n = 128; 224 ± 54 d in milk) were stratified by parity and days pregnant (86 ± 25 d) and randomly assigned to 1 of 16 pens in a randomized complete block design. For 3 wk, all cows received a covariate diet containing 16.