Concentrate feeding (crops, soybeans etc.) is an integral part of the current dairy cow feeding system and the demand for concentrate feedstuffs increases yearly. In Switzerland the self-sufficiency of feed crop production decreases continuously, and more than 50% of concentrated feed is imported. The objective of the "Feed no Food" project was to evaluate the effect of feeding rations without or with reduced shares of concentrate on health, fertility and performance of Swiss organic dairy cows. In total, 69 farms were analyzed in this study. The results show a significant average reduction of concentrate by 24% or 88 kg dry matter (DM) per cow and year. This reduction has no negative influence on animal health and fertility. Milk contents (protein, fat, urea) has remained unchanged, and milk yield decreased slightly by an average of 0.5% or 0.1 kg per cow and day.
