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.