Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T14:38:36.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of level of concentrate supplementation on grazing behaviour and performance by lactating dairy cows grazing continuously stocked grass swards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

M. J. Gibb ,
C. A. Huckle  and
R. Nuthall
M. J. Gibb*
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon EX20 2SB, UK
C. A. Huckle
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon EX20 2SB, UK
R. Nuthall
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon EX20 2SB, UK
*
† E-mail: malcolm.gibb@bbsrc.ac.uk
Get access

Abstract

The effect of level of concentrate supplementation on the grazing behaviour of lactating Holstein-Friesian cows was examined over three periods on continuously stocked grass swards maintained between 7 and 8 cm sward surface height (SSH). A dairy concentrate containing 180 g crude protein per kg fresh weight was offered at 0, 1·2, 2·4, 3·6, 4·8 or 6·0 kg fresh weight per day in two equal feeds during milking. Grazing and ruminating behaviour was recorded automatically over 24 h using sensors to measure jaw movements. Intake rates were calculated by weighing cows before and after approximately 1 h of grazing, retaining the faeces and urine excreted and applying a correction for insensible weight loss. Details of jaw movements were also recorded during these grazing periods. Level of supplementation did not significantly affect short-term intake rate of herbage or total eating time during grazing over the day, which varied between 15 and 21 g organic matter per min and between 530 and 600 min/day respectively. Supplementation had no effect on ruminating behaviour. Increasing the level of supplementation produced a significant linear increase in milk yield. The results show that at the level of grass intake achieved on continuously stocked swards maintained at 7 to 8 cm SSH, daily intake of up to 6 kg concentrates does not significantly affect grazing behaviour or lead to substitution of the grazed herbage.

Keywords

behaviourcowsgrazingsupplementation
Type
Ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Information
Animal Science , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , April 2002 , pp. 319 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2002

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

Druzinsky, R. E. 1993. The time allometry of mammalian chewing movements: chewing frequency scales with body mass in mammals. Journal of Theoretical Biology 160: 427–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edmondson, A. J., Lean, I. J., Weaver, L. D., Farver, T. and Webster, G. 1989. A body condition scoring chart for Holstein dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 72: 68–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferris, C. P. 1999. Feeding the high genetic merit dairy cow in a grassland based production environment. Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England 160: 126–137.Google Scholar
Gibb, M. J., Huckle, C. A. and Nuthall, R. 1998. Effect of time of day on grazing behaviour by lactating dairy cows. Grass and Forage Science 53: 41–46.Google Scholar
Gibb, M. J., Huckle, C. A., Nuthall, R. and Penning, P. D. 1996. Can grazed pasture meet the needs of the high genetic merit dairy cow? In Grass and forage for cattle of high genetic merit. Proceedings of the British Grassland Society winter meeting 1996. British Grassland Society, Reading.Google Scholar
Gibb, M. J., Huckle, C. A., Nuthall, R. and Rook, A. J. 1997. Effect of sward surface height on intake and grazing behaviour by lactating Holstein Friesian cows. Grass and Forage Science 52: 309–321.Google Scholar
Gibb, M. J., Huckle, C. A., Nuthall, R. and Rook, A. J. 1999. The effect of physiological state (lactating or dry) and sward surface height on grazing behaviour and intake by dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 63: 169–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, M. J. and Ridout, M. S. 1988. Application of double normal frequency distributions fitted to measurements of sward height. Grass and Forage Science 43: 131–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, M. J., Rook, A. J., Huckle, C. A. and Nuthall, R. 1995. Estimation of herbage intake by dairy cows from measurements of grazing behaviour and weight change. Proceedings of the 29th international congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ed. Rutter, S. M., Rushen, J., Randle, H. D. and Eddison, J. C.), pp. 71–72. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, Potters Bar, UK.Google Scholar
Hill Farming Research Organisation. 1986. Biennial report 1984-1985, pp. 29–30. HFRO, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Huckle, C. A., Nuthall, R. and Gibb, M. J. 1994. The use of short-term weight changes to measure intake rates in grazing dairy cattle. In Proceedings of the fourth British Grassland Society research conference, pp. 157–158. British Grassland Society, Reading.Google Scholar
Jennings, P. G. and Holmes, W. 1983. The influence of quality of concentrate supplement on the performance of high-yielding dairy cows on continuously stocked pasture. Animal Production 36: 507.Google Scholar
Kirkland, R. M. and Gordon, F. J. 2001. The effect of milk yield and stage of lactation on the partitioning of nutrients in lactating dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 84: 233–240.Google Scholar
Kolver, E. S. and Muller, L. D. 1998. Performance and nutrient intake of high producing Holstein cows consuming pasture or a total mixed ration. Journal of Dairy Science 81: 1403–1411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1997. Genstat 5 release 3 reference manual. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Leaver, J. D. 1985. Milk production from grazed temperate grassland. Journal of Dairy Research 52: 313–344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leaver, J. D. 1986. Effects of supplements on herbage intake and performance. In Grazing (ed. Frame, J.) occasional symposium no. 19, British Grassland Society, Reading, pp. 79–88.Google Scholar
Leaver, J. D., Campling, R. C. and Holmes, W. 1968. The use of supplementary feeds for grazing dairy cows. Dairy Science Abstracts 30: 355–361.Google Scholar
Mayne, C. S. 1990. Effects of supplementation on the performance of both growing and lactating cattle at pasture. In Management issues for the grassland farmer in the 1990’s (ed. Mayne, C. S.), pp. 55–71. British Grassland Society, Reading.Google Scholar
Mayne, C. S. and Peyraud, J. L. 1996. Recent advances in grassland utilization under grazing and conservation. In Grassland and land use systems (ed.G. Parente, J. Frame and Orsi, S.), proceedings of the 16th European Grassland Federation, Grado, Italy, vol. 1, pp. 347–360. British Grassland Society, Reading.Google Scholar
Mayne, C. S. and Wright, I. A. 1987. Herbage intake and utilization by the grazing dairy cow. In Nutrition and lactation in the dairy cow. Proceedings of the 46th Nottingham Easter school in agricultural science.Google Scholar
Mayne, C. S., Wright, I. A. and Fisher, G. E. J. 2000. Grassland management under grazing and animal response. In Grass: its production and utilization, third edition (ed. Hopkins, A.), pp. 247–291. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford.Google Scholar
Mead, R. and Curnow, R. N. 1983. Statistical methods in agriculture and experimental biology. Chapman Hall, New York.Google Scholar
Milk Marketing Board. 1976. The grassmeter. Report of the Breeding and Production Organization, 1975/6, no. 26. Milk Marketing Board, Thames Ditton.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. 1992. Feed composition-UK tables of feed composition and nutritive value for ruminants, second edition. Report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Standing Committee on Tables of Feed Composition. Chalcombe Publications, Canterbury.Google Scholar
Nuthall, R., Huckle, C. A. and Gibb, M. J. 1994. Factors affecting the rate of insensible weight loss in dairy cattle. In Proceedings of the fourth British Grassland Society research conference, pp. 159–160. British Grassland Society, Reading.Google Scholar
Parsons, A. J. and Chapman, D. F. 2000. The principles of pasture growth and utilization. In Grass; its production and utilization, third edition (ed. Hopkins, A.), pp. 31–89 Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford.Google Scholar
Patterson, D. M., McGilloway, D. A., Cushnahan, A., Mayne, C. S. and Laidlaw, A. S. 1998. Effect of duration of fasting period on short-term intake rates of lactating dairy cows. Animal Science 66: 299–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. 1998. The use of individual dairy cows as replicates in the statistical analysis of their behaviour at pasture. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 60: 365–369.Google Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. 2000. Further aspects on the use of individual animals as replicates in the statistical analysis. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 69: 85–88.Google Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. and Leaver, J. D. 1985a. Supplementary feeding of forage to grazing dairy cows. 1. Offering hay to dairy cows at high and low stocking rates. Grass and Forage Science 40: 183–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. and Leaver, J. D. 1985b. Supplementary feeding of forage to grazing dairy cows. 2. Offering grass silage in early and late season. Grass and Forage Science 40: 193–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, M. G. 1992. Comparison of sample preparation methods for the determination of the gross energy concentration of fresh silage. Animal Feed Science and Technology 37: 201–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rind, M. I. and Phillips, C. J. C. 1999. The effect of group size on the ingestive and social behaviour of grazing dairy cows. Animal Science 68: 589–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rook, A. J. 1999. The use of groups or individuals in the design of grazing experiments (reply to Phillips, 1998). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 61: 357–358.Google Scholar
Rook, A. J. and Huckle, C. A. 1995. Synchronization of ingestive behaviour by grazing dairy cows. Animal Science 60: 25–30.Google Scholar
Rook, A. J. and Huckle, C. A. 1997. Activity bout criteria for grazing dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 54: 89–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rook, A. J., Huckle, C. A. and Wilkins, R. J. 1994. The effect of sward height and concentrate supplementation on the performance of spring calving dairy cows grazing perennial ryegrass-white clover swards. Animal Production 58: 167–172.Google Scholar
Rutter, S. M. 2000. Graze: a program to analyze recordings of the jaw movements of ruminants. Behaviour Research Methods, Instruments and Computers 32: 86–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, S. M., Champion, R. A. and Penning, P. D. 1997. automatic system to record foraging behaviour in free-ranging ruminants. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 54: 185–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, S. M., Penning, P. D., Champion, R. A. and Roberts, G. 1993. Recent developments in the automatic recording of grazing behaviour in free ranging ruminants. Proceedings of the international congress in applied ethology, Berlin (ed. M.Nichelmann, H. Wierenga, K and Braun, S.), pp. 594–596. Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft, Darmstadt, Germany.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. D. 1981. Concentrate feeding and milk composition. In Recent advances in animal nutrition (ed. Haresign, W.), pp. 35–48. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Tecator. 1987. Determination of kjeldahl nitrogen content and kjeldahl System 1030. Tecator application note 02. 18, AN 86/ 87. Tecator Ltd, Thornbury, Bristol.Google Scholar
Thomas, T. A. 1977. An automated procedure for the determination of soluble carbohydrates in herbage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 28: 639–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. 1963. Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. II. A rapid method for the determination of fibre and lignin. Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists 46: 829–835.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. 1973. Collaborative study on acid-detergent fibre and lignin. Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists 56: 781–784.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. and Wine, R. H. 1967. Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. I V. Determination of plant cellwall constituents. Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists 50: 50–55.Google Scholar
Weary, D. M. and Fraser, D. 1998. Replication and pseudoreplication: a comment on Phillips (1998). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 61: 181–183.Google Scholar