The Behaviour and Productivity of Mid-Lactation Dairy Cows Provided Daily Pasture Allowance over 2 or 7 Intensively Grazed Strips
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Ethical Statement
2.2. Animals and Housing
2.3. Experimental Design
2.4. Measures Recorded
2.4.1. Milk Yield
2.4.2. Milk Composition
2.4.3. Live Weight
2.4.4. Time Feeding, Ruminating and Resting
2.4.5. Pasture Consumption
2.5. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Milk Production
3.2. Milk Composition
3.3. Behaviour
3.4. Live Weight
3.5. Relationships between Behaviour, Milk Production and Cow Characteristics
3.6. Pasture Consumption
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Measure | Repeated Observations | Fixed Effects | Random Effects | Covariates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Behaviour | ||||
per hour 2 | Cow (period) over day | Treatment | Paddock | None |
per day | Cow (period) over day | Treatment Prior treatment Treatment × prior treatment | Paddock | None |
Milk composition | Cow (period) over day | Treatment Day (period) Treatment × day (period) Prior treatment | None | Milk composition at day −1 |
Live weight | Cow (period) over day | Treatment Day (period) Treatment × day (period) Prior treatment | None | Live weight at day −1 |
Milk yield | Cow (period) over day | Treatment Prior treatment Treatment × prior treatment | Paddock | Milk yield at day −1 |
Pasture consumption | Day [(paddock) period] | Treatment Period Treatment × period | None | Pre-grazed pasture biomass |
Variable | Treatment | SEP 1 | p-Value 2 | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 Per Day | 7 Per Day | |||||||||||
Day 7 | Day 14 | Day 21 | Day 28 | Day 7 | Day 14 | Day 21 | Day 28 | T | P | D | ||
Live weight (kg) | 530 a | 523 b | 527 a | 518 b | 531 a | 521 b | 528 a | 521 b | 5.57 | 0.76 | 0.12 | <0.001 |
Fat | ||||||||||||
Percent | 4.43 | 4.48 | 4.68 | 4.60 | 4.37 | 4.54 | 4.57 | 4.59 | 0.042 | 0.76 | 0.53 | 0.43 |
Total kg | 1.02 ax | 0.84 ay | 0.99 ax | 0.87 ay | 0.95 bx | 0.84 by | 0.94 bx | 0.82 by | 0.011 | 0.05 | 0.29 | <0.001 |
Protein | ||||||||||||
Percent | 3.22 | 3.24 | 3.26 | 3.32 | 3.23 | 3.26 | 3.29 | 3.29 | 0.024 | 0.86 | 0.58 | 0.39 |
Total kg | 0.74 a | 0.60 b | 0.70 a | 0.63 b | 0.71 a | 0.60 b | 0.68 a | 0.59 b | 0.007 | 0.07 | 0.62 | <0.001 |
SCC (×1000/mL) 3 | 36.1 a | 44.7 b | 61.7 c | 86.9 d | 49.1 a | 73.1 b | 101 c | 113 d | 34.4 | 0.09 | 0.39 | <0.001 |
FPCM (kg) | 23.9 ax | 19.6 ay | 22.8 ax | 20.2 ay | 22.5 bx | 19.5 by | 21.8 bx | 19.1 by | 0.214 | 0.03 | 0.39 | <0.001 |
Behaviour | Treatment | Prior Treatment 1 | SEP | p-Value | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 Feeds | 7 Feeds | Period 1 | Period 2 | Treatment | Prior Treatment | |||
None | 2 Feeds | 7 Feeds | ||||||
Feeding | 8.9 | 8.9 | 8.8 a | 9.2 b | 8.9 ab | 0.19 | 0.95 | 0.047 |
Resting 2 | 5.6 a | 6.0 b | 5.6 | 5.57 | 5.93 | 0.79 | 0.008 | 0.18 |
Ruminating | 7.7 a | 7.2 b | 8.0 a | 7.2 b | 7.0 b | 0.11 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
Cow Characteristic | 2 Feeds Per Day | 7 Feeds Per Day | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Feeding | Ruminating | Resting 1 | Feeding | Ruminating | Resting 1 | |
Age | −0.07 | −0.09 * | 0.18 ** | −0.13 ** | 0.06 | 0.16 ** |
Start weight | −0.07 | −0.10 * | 0.19 ** | −0.04 | −0.05 | 0.20 ** |
Days in milk (day −1) | −0.08 | −0.04 | 0.02 | −0.03 | −0.01 | 0.06 |
Milk yield (L/day) | 0.08 * | 0.22 ** | −0.16 ** | −0.06 | 0.14 ** | −0.003 |
FPCM (kg/day) 2 | 0.31 ** | −0.06 | 0.05 | 0.07 | −0.03 | 0.18 |
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Verdon, M.; Rawnsley, R.; Raedts, P.; Freeman, M. The Behaviour and Productivity of Mid-Lactation Dairy Cows Provided Daily Pasture Allowance over 2 or 7 Intensively Grazed Strips. Animals 2018, 8, 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8070115
Verdon M, Rawnsley R, Raedts P, Freeman M. The Behaviour and Productivity of Mid-Lactation Dairy Cows Provided Daily Pasture Allowance over 2 or 7 Intensively Grazed Strips. Animals. 2018; 8(7):115. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8070115
Chicago/Turabian StyleVerdon, Megan, Richard Rawnsley, Pieter Raedts, and Mark Freeman. 2018. "The Behaviour and Productivity of Mid-Lactation Dairy Cows Provided Daily Pasture Allowance over 2 or 7 Intensively Grazed Strips" Animals 8, no. 7: 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8070115