The content of secondary compounds (total phenols and condensed tannins) of monocultures of faba bean and Italian ryegrass and faba‑ryegras intercrop, from fresh forage to silage and their later inclusion in unifeed rations for dairy cows was measured. The effects of these silages on voluntary intake, dairy production and milk chemical composition were evaluated. For this purpose, three unifeed rations were formulated with faba bean (60% of the ration dry matter), Italian ryegrass (46%) or faba‑ryegras intercrop (52%) silages, and were randomly assigned to 9 Holstein‑Friesian cows divided into 3 groups following a 3 x 3 Latin square design. The faba bean monoculture was the forage with the highest content in secondary compounds. The concentration of these compounds decreased through the wilting and silage processes, and their content was diluted in the ration with the inclusion of new ingredients promoting no significant differences among diets. The dry matter intake of unifeed rations did not show significant differences among diets (10.29, 10.24 and 10.78 kg dry matter d^-1 for faba bean, faba‑ryegras intercrop and Italian ryegrass respectively). Statistical differences were observed in milk production with the highest values for cows fed rations based on Italian ryegrass silage (P<0.001). The presence of faba bean in the ration improved significantly the milk fat and protein proportion, so, after correcting milk production by fat the differences between diets disappeared. The presence of faba bean in the rations induced higher urea content in milk.