Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T04:54:51.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some observations on the behaviour of dairy cattle using cow-activated out-of-parlour concentrate dispensers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2009

William Little  and
Roger D. Harrison
William Little
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Food Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Disease, Compton, Newbury RG16 0NN
Roger D. Harrison
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Food Research Council Institute for Research on Animal Disease, Compton, Newbury RG16 0NN
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Housed dairy heifers (62 cows) were fed concentrates exclusively through variable-time, out-of-parlour dispensers. They were observed to visit the dispensers on average 20·4 times/d but significantly less frequently (13·9 times/d) shortly after calving. The dispensers were occupied for 25·8% of the night (22.00–06.00 h) compared with 30·4% of the day (06.00–22.00 h). This difference was small but significant, whereas the differences between the proportion of night and day spent standing (32·5 v. 66·2%) or eating silage (4·8 v. 24·7%) were noticeably greater. In a herd of ∼ 80 cows in which the daily average number of visits to the dispenser was 20·5/cow there was a significant decrease in the number of visits/d (y) with increasing time after calving (x) where y = 23·4–0·030x (r = 0·88). Some cows repeatedly visited the dispensers more frequently than others (range 13·2–34·9±5·3 visits/d, giving a repeatability of 0·58). Cows in a grazing herd (∼ 60) visited the dispensers on average 14·6 times/d during an average 3·6 visits to a cubicle house to which they had continuous access. The number of visits to the dispensers (y) again decreased with increasing time after calving (x) where y = 22·7–0·072x (r = 0·45). The average time spent in the cubicle house (z) also decreased as the days after calving (x) increased (z = 8·4 – 0073x+0·000203x2, r =–0·66). All cows, however, stayed in the cubicle house during periods of heavy rainfall.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Journal of Dairy Research , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , May 1984 , pp. 199 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Proprietors of Journal of Dairy Research 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Broster, W. H., Clough, P. A., Clements, A. J. & Sivtter, J. W. 1982 Electronically controlled feeding troughs for dairy cows: some nutritional implications. Journal of Dairy Research 49 545–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collis, K. A. 1980 The effect of an automatic feed dispenser on the behaviour of lactating dairy cows. Applied Animal Ethology 6 139–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friend, T. H. & Polan, C. E. 1974 Social rank, feeding behaviour and free stall utilization by dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 57 1214–1220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J. P. 1981 The effects of feeding frequency on the growth and efficiency of food utilisation of ruminants: an analysis of published results. Animal Production 32 275–283.Google Scholar
Gibson, J. P. 1983 The effects of frequent feeding of dairy cows: an analysis and summary of published results. Animal Production 36 544 (Abstr.)Google Scholar
Kaufmann, W. 1976 Influence of the composition of the ration and the feeding frequency on pH-regulation in the rumen and on feed intake in ruminants. Livestock Production Science 3 103–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Du, Y. L. P., Combellas, J., Hodoson, J. & Baker, R. D. 1979 Herbage intake and milk production by grazing dairy cows. 2. The effects of level of winter feeding and daily herbage allowance. Grass and Forage Science 34 249–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Callaqhan, J. 1975 Some observations on the behaviour of cows and in-calf heifers being fed silage. Journal of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Irish Republic 72 81–94.Google Scholar
Parker, J. W. G. 1978 The effect of some physical and chemical characteristics of grass silage upon the feeding behaviour and silage dry matter intake of self-fed dairy cows. 5th Silage Conference, Ayr (Ed. Harkess, R. D.) pp. 40–41Google Scholar
Rees, P. & Rowlinson, P. 1980 The effect of a fully controlled out-of-parlour concentrate dispenser on the behaviour of a housed dairy herd. Interim Report, Department of Agriculture, University of Newcastle upon TyneGoogle Scholar
Rees, P. & Rowlinson, P. 1982 The effect of a fully controlled out-of-parlour concentrate dispenser on the production parameters of dairy cows. Animal Production 34 398 (Abstr.)Google Scholar
Rossing, W. 1979 Concentrate feeding of dairy cows. In Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition - 1978pp. 149–157 (Eds Haresign, W. and Lewis, D.). London: Butterworths.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spiegelberg, E. 1980 Abruffülterung für Milchkühe pp. 663–703. Kiel: Rationalisierungs-Kuratorium für Landwirtschaft.Google Scholar
Walker-Love, J. & Laird, R. Jr 1964 Behaviour of dairy cows in loose housing. Animal Production 6 253–254 (Abstr.)Google Scholar