TY - JOUR
T1 - Recording rumination time by a rumination monitoring system in Jersey heifers fed grass/clover silage and hay at three feeding levels
AU - Byskov, Malene Vesterager
AU - Schulze, Anne-Katrine Skovsted
AU - Weisbjerg, M. R.
AU - Markussen, Bo
AU - Nørgaard, P.
PY - 2014/3
Y1 - 2014/3
N2 - This study was conducted with the objective to validate a rumination monitoring system (RMS). The RMS was developed by SCR Engineers Ltd. (Netanya, Israel) to record individual rumination times in commercial dairy herds. Four heifers were fed 4 forage types at 3 feeding levels in 4 periods in a Latin square design. The forage types were spring growth of grass/clover harvested early (May 9) and late (May 25) conserved as silage and hay, creating 4 forage types: early harvest silage (ES), early harvest hay (EH), late harvest silage (LS), and late harvest hay (LH). Feeding levels were ad libitum, 90% of ad libitum, and 60% of ad libitum. Data were collected for 24 h at ad libitum feeding level, for 96 h at 90% of ad libitum, and for 24 h at 60% of ad libitum. Rumination time was recorded by the RMS in minutes per 2-h interval (RTRMS2_i) and per 24-h interval (RTRMS24). As a reference method, rumination time was recorded by chewing halters identifying rumination time by jaw movements (JM) and was accumulated into minutes per 2-h interval (RTJM2_i) and per 24-h interval (RTJM24) over the same time intervals as RTRMS2_i and RTRMS24. Differences between RTRMS2_i and RTJM2_i were observed for EH, LS, and LH, with differences of 3.4 (P < 0.001), 1.1 (P = 0.03), and 3.3 (P < 0.001) min per 2-h interval. In addition, feeding restrictively at 90% and 60% of ad libitum resulted in greater rumination time recorded by the RMS compared to JM, with differences of 2.6 min per 2-h interval (P < 0.001) for 90% of ad libitum and 1.6 min per 2-h interval (P = 0.01) for 60% of ad libitum. Further, the differences between rumination times recorded by the RMS compared to JM were different among the 4 heifers. Despite these effects, rumination time recorded by the RMS correlated well with rumination time recorded by JM with correlation between RTRMS2_i and RTJM2_i of r = 0.91 (P < 0.001) and between RTRMS24 and RTJM24 of r = 0.79 (P < 0.001)
AB - This study was conducted with the objective to validate a rumination monitoring system (RMS). The RMS was developed by SCR Engineers Ltd. (Netanya, Israel) to record individual rumination times in commercial dairy herds. Four heifers were fed 4 forage types at 3 feeding levels in 4 periods in a Latin square design. The forage types were spring growth of grass/clover harvested early (May 9) and late (May 25) conserved as silage and hay, creating 4 forage types: early harvest silage (ES), early harvest hay (EH), late harvest silage (LS), and late harvest hay (LH). Feeding levels were ad libitum, 90% of ad libitum, and 60% of ad libitum. Data were collected for 24 h at ad libitum feeding level, for 96 h at 90% of ad libitum, and for 24 h at 60% of ad libitum. Rumination time was recorded by the RMS in minutes per 2-h interval (RTRMS2_i) and per 24-h interval (RTRMS24). As a reference method, rumination time was recorded by chewing halters identifying rumination time by jaw movements (JM) and was accumulated into minutes per 2-h interval (RTJM2_i) and per 24-h interval (RTJM24) over the same time intervals as RTRMS2_i and RTRMS24. Differences between RTRMS2_i and RTJM2_i were observed for EH, LS, and LH, with differences of 3.4 (P < 0.001), 1.1 (P = 0.03), and 3.3 (P < 0.001) min per 2-h interval. In addition, feeding restrictively at 90% and 60% of ad libitum resulted in greater rumination time recorded by the RMS compared to JM, with differences of 2.6 min per 2-h interval (P < 0.001) for 90% of ad libitum and 1.6 min per 2-h interval (P = 0.01) for 60% of ad libitum. Further, the differences between rumination times recorded by the RMS compared to JM were different among the 4 heifers. Despite these effects, rumination time recorded by the RMS correlated well with rumination time recorded by JM with correlation between RTRMS2_i and RTJM2_i of r = 0.91 (P < 0.001) and between RTRMS24 and RTJM24 of r = 0.79 (P < 0.001)
U2 - 10.2527/jas.2013-6904
DO - 10.2527/jas.2013-6904
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 24492571
SN - 0021-8812
VL - 92
SP - 1110
EP - 1118
JO - Journal of Animal Science
JF - Journal of Animal Science
IS - 3
ER -