grazing time

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Spörndly E. and Andersson Å.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
The effect of indoor silage feeding on pasture time was studied in an automatic milking rotary system with batch milking two times daily. The objective was to study how pasture time is influenced by offering only pasture (PP) or both grass silage and pasture (SP) in the barn during grazing hours, in a night-time grazing system, where cows could move freely between barn and pasture during pasturing hours. From 9 June until 18 August, treatments SP and PP were repeated three and two times, respectively in two-week periods using the second week for measurements. During each measurement week, ten animals were fitted with HOBO® loggers that estimated grazing time from head position. Results were analysed in a mixed repeated measurement model using only cows (83) present during all periods. Results showed that animals on treatment PP spent approximately 8.5 hours on pasture with no difference between primi- and multiparous cows. In contrast, cows on treatment SP spent less time on pasture (P

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Allain C., Raynal J., Beck C., Delagarde R. and Brocard V.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
The Lifecorder+® is a uniaxial neck-mounted activitymeter. It was tested to assess grazing time in two French experimental automatic milking system farms (20 cows equipped on the Derval farm, 14 cows equipped on the Trévarez farm). The Lifecorder+ raw signal (from 0 to 9) was converted into a grazing yes/no information over a certain threshold. The data from the sensors were compared with visual observations as reference: trained observers recorded activity with a scanning every 10 minutes in the pastures. The recorded activities were as follows: grazing/ruminating and standing/lying/walking. Observation sessions were performed on the Derval and Trévarez farms. Finally, 20 recordings were available for the Derval farm (121 h of cumulated observation time in pasture) and 91 for the Trévarez farm (336 h of cumulated observation time in pasture). The results show a high correlation of grazing time between the visual observations of activity and the information from the sensor (R2=0.93 on the Derval farm and 0.82 on the Trévarez farm) with a mean prediction error of 18 min (9%) for the Derval farm and 29 min (20%) for the Trévarez farm. Some slight biases related to the recording of walking in the pathways were noticed. Lifecorder+ appears to be a possible cheap, easy and precise tool to record grazing time at pasture.