Learn how she behaves..........& she shall enjoy her meal!!

Learn how she behaves..........& she shall enjoy her meal!!

Feeding Dairy cows is science- when you hear this, what comes to mind? Texts and articles on Nutrition and nutrients and metabolism related to all this, right!! But there is another aspect to this which till the recent times has not been looked into all that much, that is, cow eating behavior which can alter your nutrition program upside down. Designing feeds as well as facilities in tune with how she behaves or the way she likes it, may have very un-thought of outcomes.

'Dangar' is a local word used in Punjabi dialect referring to Animals in a crude or disrespected way. This literally translates into one without brains. But let me tell you these girls do have brains and they are smart. During early part of my career, I visited a dairy farm in village Channuwala of Moga, Punjab, India. The farm is run by Mr. Tej Singh. When I went to see it, he had over a 100 cows and each cow had a name, which she not only recognized, reacted to it. Mr Tej Singh believes in nurturing each of his cows as if they were his children. And so he gives each one a name.

"Along with a name comes a personal relationship. When an animal recognizes the name, he shows that he too needs love and affection, which every child gets from his mother," the farmer from Channuwala village of Moga says.

He has been following the practice of naming since 1984, and has never had to use a stick or chain to handle his herd of 150 cows and heifers, Singh says. Veerjindera Dairy Farm, named after Singh's daughter who passed away when she was 22 years old, is now a model farm. Now I truly was amazed to see the social settings and order amongst cows at his farm. I was like a kid in the candy store. 

Off late there has been work done on cow behavior and how that impacts their feeding habits and how can we have things in cow's favor. Under natural grazing conditions dairy cattle will be eating anywhere from 4 to 9 hours per day. This feeding time would be split into a number of smaller meals occurring throughout the day, with the largest meals occurring in the early morning and late afternoon. Modern, intensively-housed dairy cattle fed a conserved ration typically consume their daily dry matter intake in up to 6 hours per day, spread between 7 or more meals per day (DeVries et al., 2003). Management practices like limiting the feed availability and the time causes a shift in their behavior to eat fewer and larger meals more quickly have been associated with an increased incidence of Rumen Acidosis. When cows are offered feed only once daily, there are significant peaks in feeding activity in the immediate time period following feed delivery compared to twice a day offering the feed. This results into slug feeding and greater rumen pH changes but when cows are fed more frequently  5-6 times a day, they consume feed more evenly after each feed delivery, increasing their feeding time throughout the day. Added to that, DeVries et al. found that subordinate cows were not displaced as frequently when fed more often, indicating that these cows would have greater access to feed, particularly fresh feed, when the frequency of feed delivery is high. Further, providing feed twice or more often has also been demonstrated to reduce the amount of feed sorting as compared to feeding once a day.

There is evidence to suggest that the timing of feed delivery is also important for lactating dairy cows. Availability of fresh feed following the return from milking has typically been used to encourage cows to remain standing (while feeding) rather than to lie down. This is a known fact that immediate lying down post milking have more incidences of udder inflammation. Potential undesirable impacts of nutritional management on the behavior of dairy cows can be intensified under situations where cows do not have good access to their feed ( higher stocking rates). When feed bunk competition is high, increases in aggressive behavior limit the ability of some cows to access feed at times when feeding motivation is high, particularly after the delivery of fresh feed. Reducing feed bunk competition, by providing adequate feed bunk space (to allow animals to eat simultaneously), particularly when combined with a physical partition (e.g. headlocks or feed stalls), has been known to improve access to feed, particularly for subordinate dairy cows. In a study, free-stall herds that every 10 cm/cow increase in feed bunk space was associated with 0.06 percentage point increase in group average milk fat and a 13% decrease in group-average somatic cell count Sova et al. (2013). Even in the robotic milked herds, an increase in feed bunk space is associated with increase in yield and components. 

Another factor stimulating feeding activity is feed push-up. When fed a TMR, dairy cows have a natural tendency to continually sort the feed and push feed away while eating, resulting in much of the feed being tossed forward where it is no longer within reach. Regular feed push ups have been known to increase the feed intake or as Dr Mike Hutjens terms it-" FIND FREE FEED." Cows need a comfortable environment and adequate food and water to meet their behavioral and physiological needs. Reduced space availability both at feed bunk and resting are have been known to cause aggressive behavior leading to not only DMI suppression of smaller and timid cows but also their resting time. 

One of the most obvious features of the feeding area is the physical barrier that separates the cow and the feed. The various barriers are all designed with the intention of allowing cows access to feed, however, some designs can have unintended consequences, such as limiting the cows’ ability to freely access feed and increasing the frequency of aggressive interactions at the feeder. Many producers believe that a feed line barrier that provides some sort of separation between cows (e.g., headlocks) will reduce competition and increase intake. I have known people who have been adjusting the heights of the bars as per the size of the cows-of course one size does not fit all. But design and implementation is crucial.

So the need is to listen to what the cows are telling you and design and implement things as she tells you to.

DO Cows Tell Something?- The body language of cattle

There is an increasing need to pay attention to the environment and nature of the cows. By the time, the animal shows the symptoms of disease it usually is too late. There may be anorexia, mastitis or bad milk, before reaching these stages, the animal shows a lot of behavior changes which usually go unnoticed. How long the animal is lying, keeps standing or walking usually are such indications. Be it the milk yield,  SNF or milk Fat, we have been tracking all this since long but that is because this determines the milk check or payment we get, but we don’t relate it to animal’s health and well being. Many a times changes in these components are the first symptoms to appear. If we pay heed to nature and behavior, we can actually predict before the disease actually hits. Eating less, less activity, less lying behavior, raised temperature etc can tell the disease is about to hit.

Normally, the animals likely to get disease would take 10-15 less steps than a normal one and the animals getting Ketosis would drop the milk production by 8-10 litres.

The cows susceptible to metritis spend less time eating and also eat lower quantities. These signs can show upto two weeks prior to the disease actually hitting. Even if the animal spends 10 mins less eating, she is 1.2X more likely to get the disease. And if  she eats 1 kg Dry matter less than normal she is three times more likely to fall sick.

The animals with Dystocia exhibit a lot of changes in eating and general behavior. Before calving, there are many noticeable changes in lying and resting behavior of cows. 24 hours before calving, if a cow has more than 30 standing episodes, she is more likely to have dystocia- difficult calving.

The need of the hour is watch cows, understand them and and most important listen to them.

“ My cows can’t read the feed report”, says Rajinder a saddened dairy farmerto his friend Dharminder.    “ Dharam,” he says, “I feed them a very high priced feed but neither the milk yield goes up nor SNF and Fat. I got the feed tested from the lab, it is upto the nutritional standards, protein 20%, Fat 2.5%, Fiber 10%, and the moisture content is right too. I even showed the report my cows but they don’t increase the milk yield.”

It sounds like a joke but a dairy farmer thinks if a high priced feed doesn’t benefit, what is the use? In fact there are many more nutritional factors that play a role and on top of these, there are many non dietary factors which play a role in enhancing yield and components.

The most important thing is that the concentrate feed you buy, complements the green fodder/ forage you have, so that all the nutrient requirements can be met.

The cows don’t have a crude protein requirement. They require Amino Acids or the metabolizable protein. Which amino acids actually reach the intestines and what is the ratio of Lysine to methionine, there is a lot of science that goes into it and research is still ongoing.

Even the crude fiber test doesn’t say much about the diet digestibility but newer lab tests like NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber), eNDF (Effective Neutral Detergent Fiber) and peNDF (physically effective Neutral Detergent Fiber) can give much more valuable information.

Don’t get disheartened that it is so detailed and tough subject. The crux is that the cows can tell you- WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOES NOT.  This observatory experience and the science can help prepare great rations for cows. But one must not forget the non dietary factors for performance.

Research shows that animals with similar milk yield genetic potential, differ largely in yields ubder different farm management and comfort conditions even if on same diets. Only 4 factors have about 46% role play in determining of yields. These are: 1. Age at first calving, 2. Amount of feed refusals, 3. The method of delivering feed, and 4. The space available per cow. Overcrowding in the farm and feed bunk can affect yield by 32% and how much time a cow gets to rest has 31% impact.

Along with the caring of animal, how much rest they get, how much time they spend on rumination/cud chewing, total time eating can effect the components and yield. We know that the particle size  has a direct impact on rumination. If you pack in 14 cows in 10 cows space, the cows are more likely to reduce the rumination time by 2 hrs, it is like feeding 7% less peNDF. More factors bringing down the rumination time are housing the first calf heifers, locking animals in head locks for extended periods, uneven floor area or not leveled or comfortable. These factors can bring down rumination by 15-20%.

                                                                                                                                                           Amit Arora

Ketosis- Monitoring, preventing and treatingPart II- Hot Topic in Cold Winter

Ketosis as discussed earlier is a condition that goes highly un-diagnosed or unnoticed on dairies. Since the cost of this condition is very high due to compounding problems of milk loss and reproductive and health failures, actually monitoring it can add to the bottom line of your business.

Testing for Ketosis : The basic idea for monitoring is to test for levels of ketone bodies in the fluids like blood, milk and urine and determine the plan for prevention or treatment based on that. Excess ketone are produced by liver in response to excess fat mobilization. The circulating ketones are acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA). They are found in all body fluids including urine, blood, and milk. The predominant ketone in cows is BHBA. The gold standard for testing is considered the BHBA testing in blood by lab. But this is costly and inconvenient and time consuming as well. Fortunately there are cow side testing methods, some of which are pretty dependable. Theses are discussed below:

Milk Tests: There are majority two types of these where milk sample is tested for ketone bodies. The first measures Acetone and Acetoacetate levels in milk and commonly known as Keto-check. Most of the times a positive result confirms ketosis but the test is highly insensitive and the poor sensitivity may cost money and yield no results. You may miss many potentially problem animals. There is another milk test known as Keto-Test which measures milk BHBA. This one is more specific and sensitive. Plan with your Nutritionist/Vet if they feel that this test may be part of your herd monitoring.

Urine Tests: This test measure Acetone and Acetoacetate. But there are reported a high number of false positive results. Bayer has this test by name of Ketostix.  Ketostix test has comparable test performance to that of the Keto-Test, provided that the test is interpreted within 5 to 10 seconds following contact with urine. Plan with your Nutritionist/Vet if they feel that this test may be part of your herd monitoring.

Blood Tests: Abbott Laboratories manufactures a glucometer for use in humans called Precision Xtra. It also takes ketone strips for measuring BHBA. Several researchers have evaluated this test and found it highly accurate for testing dairy cow blood. In a monitoring program, a cow that is tested at or above 1.4 mmol/L BHBA in blood is considered to be positive. Plan with your Nutritionist/Vet if they feel that this test may be part of your herd monitoring.

Other Monitors: There are some more indicators of likely ketosis, which are as follows:

• More than 5% DA incidence.
• Fresh cows having milk protein/Fat ratio over 0.75.
• Close up cows having BCS>3.5.

These all can be warning signals and the animals can be put in active watch, treatment/support group, actively testing and designing a support program.

Prevention and Supportive Treatment: 

1. Most important step shall be improving the Dry matter intake and designing specific diets for each phase especially Transition phases of close up dry cows and Fresh cows. Controlled energy high Intake diets in Close up period have been specifically successful in many of the research studies.
2. Monensin Sodium fed to cows during early lactation and/or during the Close up period reduces the incidence of ketosis and fatty liver. It alters rumen microbe populations such that more propionate is produced. Increased supplies of this glucose precursor help decrease the incidence and/or severity of ketosis.
3. Niacin at a dose of 6-12 mg throughout the Transition period has proved helpful in a high percentage of studies.
4. Glucose precursors like Calcium Propionate and Propylene Glycol for fresh cows have been part of successful strategies.
5. Feeding Rumen protected Choline has been a successful strategy in Transition period and is especially helpful in overconditioned cows.
6. For treatment purpose, Dextrose, Insulin in some cases and glucose precursors have been helpful but choice of treatment is totally dependent upon Veterinarian's decision.