Behavior, Welfare & Nutrition in dairy cattle: Understanding the link

NutriNews International: That sounds very interesting. Could you tell us how does feeding behavior of dairy cattle influence overall health and productivity, and why is it important to understand this from a productive standpoint?

Trevor DeVries: That is a good question, and there is probably a lot that we can unpack thinking about that question from my perspective. First and foremost, the reason for which I am interested in feeding behavior, and why it is important from the cow’s perspective, has to do with the fact that feeding behavior dictates the amount of feed the animal consumes. When we are thinking of dairy cows we are thinking about an animal that we keep for production purposes. We want that animal to produce a high amount of milk, but we also want it to do this efficiently and in a healthy manner. When we think about milk yield, one of the limiting factors is the amount of nutrients that animal can consume and convert into milk. Therefore, when we are considering the amount of nutrients, and the dry matter intake levels of that animal, these are inherently dictated by how that cow eats. If that cow needs to eat more, she needs to change the way she eats. Hence, she needs to: eat more meals per day, consume bigger meals, eat faster, spend more time eating, or some combination of these. Our research has looked into this, and we have spent quite some time looking into those factors that can be influential.

When we are evaluating the response of cows towards diets and management practices, we are often assessing if these factors promote feeding patterns that are associated with greater intake. So, having more meals per day, not eating as fast and being able to spend more time at the feed bunk, are factors that have been correlated with greater feed intake.

The other side of it, is that we also know that feed intake patterns, can influence the health of the animal, and the efficiency with which that animal works so to speak….

Stay tuned for the full interview on our Youtube channel and on agri FM