Feeding Behavior of Lactating Dairy Cows Fed 1× vs. 4× Daily

Feeding frequency (FF) has been a perplexing strategy in modern dairy production. The objective was to establish FF effects on eating, ruminating, and chewing behaviors of dairycows in a non-competitive environment. Eight multiparous, early-lactation Holstein cows housed in individual box stalls received either once daily (1×) at 07:00 h or 4 times daily(4×) at 01:00, 07:00, 13:00 and 19:00 h a chopped alfalfa hay based total mixed ration (TMR) in a crossover design with two 20-d periods. Once instead of four times feeding significantly increased dry matter intake (21.1 vs. 20.0 ± 0.5 kg/d) and elongated the first meal (106 versus 49 ± 21.5 min). Daily time spent eating (303 ± 37 min/d), ruminating (314 ± 34 min/d), total chewing (617 ± 55 min/d), laying (562 ± 57 min/d) and standing (666 ± 49 min/d) were not different between treatments. Findings provide novel evidence on feeding behavior response to FF in early-lactation cows under noncompetitive individual feeding and housing.

Keywords:

Eating behavior , Ruminating , Chewing , Feeding frequency , Early-lactation cow