No abstract

Feeding behaviour is an important parameter of animal performance, health and welfare, as well as reflecting levels and quality of feed available. Previously, sensors were only used for measuring animal feeding behaviour in indoor housing systems. However, sensors such as the RumiWatchSystem can also monitor such behaviour continuously in pasture-based environments. Therefore, the aim of this study was to validate the RumiWatchSystem to record cow activity and feeding behaviour in a pasture-based system. The RumiWatchSystem was evaluated against visual observation across two different experiments. The time duration per hour at grazing, rumination, walking, standing and lying recorded by the RumiWatchSystem was compared to the visual observation data in Experiment 1. Concordance Correlation Coefficient (CCC) values of CCC=0.96 for grazing, CCC=0.99 for rumination, CCC=1.00 for standing and lying and CCC=0.92 for walking were obtained. The number of grazing and rumination bouts within one hour were also analysed resulting in Cohen's Kappa (κ)=0.62 and κ=0.86 for grazing and rumination bouts, respectively. Experiment 2 focused on the validation of grazing bites and rumination chews. The accordance between visual observation and automated measurement by the RumiWatchSystem was high with CCC=0.78 and CCC=0.94 for grazing bites and rumination chews, respectively. These results indicate that the RumiWatchSystem is a reliable sensor technology for observing cow activity and feeding behaviour in a pasture based milk production system, and may be used for research purposes in a grazing environment.

Precision technologies and data have had relatively modest impacts in grass-based livestock ruminant production systems compared with other agricultural sectors such as arable. Precision technologies promise increased efficiency, reduced environmental impact, improved animal health, welfare and product quality. The benefits of precision technologies have, however, been relatively slow to be realised on pasture based farms. Though there is significant overlap with indoor systems, implementing technology in grass-based dairying brings unique opportunities and challenges. The large areas animals roam and graze in pasture based systems and the associated connectivity challenges may, in part at least, explain the comparatively lower adoption of such technologies in pasture based systems. With the exception of sensor and Bluetooth-enabled plate metres, there are thus few technologies designed specifically to increase pasture utilisation. Terrestrial and satellite-based spectral analysis of pasture biomass and quality is still in the development phase. One of the key drivers of efficiency in pasture based systems has thus only been marginally impacted by precision technologies. In contrast, technological development in the area of fertility and heat detection has been significant and offers significant potential value to dairy farmers, including those in pasture based systems. A past review of sensors in health management for dairy farms concluded that although the collection of accurate data was generally achieved, the processing, integration and presentation of the resulting information and decision-support applications were inadequate. These technologies' value to farming systems is thus unclear. As a result, it is not certain that farm management is being sufficiently improved to justify widespread adoption of precision technologies currently. We argue for a user need-driven development of technologies and for a focus on how outputs arising from precision technologies and associated decision support applications are delivered to users to maximise their value. Further cost/benefit analysis is required to determine the efficacy of investing in specific precision technologies, potentially taking account of several yet to ascertained farm specific variables.

The commercially available collar device MooMonitor+ was evaluated with regards to accuracy and application potential for measuring grazing behavior. These automated measurements are crucial as cows feed intake behavior at pasture is an important parameter of animal performance, health and welfare as well as being an indicator of feed availability. Compared to laborious and time-consuming visual observation, the continuous and automated measurement of grazing behavior may support and improve the grazing management of dairy cows on pasture. Therefore, there were two experiments as well as a literature analysis conducted to evaluate the MooMonitor+ under grazing conditions. The first experiment compared the automated measurement of the sensor against visual observation. In a second experiment, the MooMonitor+ was compared to a noseband sensor (RumiWatch), which also allows continuous measurement of grazing behavior. The first experiment on n = 12 cows revealed that the automated sensor MooMonitor+ and visual observation were highly correlated as indicated by the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rs) = 0.94 and concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) = 0.97 for grazing time. An rs-value of 0.97 and CCC = 0.98 was observed for rumination time. In a second experiment with n = 12 cows over 24-h periods, a high correlation between the MooMonitor+ and the RumiWatch was observed for grazing time as indicated by an rs-value of 0.91 and a CCC-value of 0.97. Similarly, a high correlation was observed for rumination time with an rs-value of 0.96 and a CCC-value of 0.99. While a higher level of agreement between the MooMonitor+ and both visual observation and RumiWatch was observed for rumination time compared to grazing time, the overall results showed a high level of accuracy of the collar device in measuring grazing and rumination times. Therefore, the collar device can be applied to monitor cow behavior at pasture on farms. With regards to the application potential of the collar device, it may not only be used on commercial farms but can also be applied to research questions when a data resolution of 15 min is sufficient. Thus, at farm level, the farmer can get an accurate and continuous measurement of grazing behavior of each individual cow and may then use those data for decision-making to optimize the animal management.

SUMMARYConventionally perennial ryegrass evaluations are conducted under simulated grazing studies to identify varieties with the best phenotypic performance. However, cut-plot environments differ greatly to those experienced on commercial farms as varieties are not exposed to the same stress levels in test environments. It could be argued that plot-based testing regimes provide little direction to plant breeders in the development of advanced varieties. Varietal phenotypic performance needs to be quantified in ‘commercial’ situations. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the phenotypic performance of a range of perennial ryegrass varieties under commercial farm conditions. Monocultures of 11 Irish Recommended List perennial ryegrass varieties were sown on 66 commercial farms throughout Ireland where performance was evaluated over a 3-year period from 2013 to 2015, inclusive. A linear mixed model was used to quantify variety effects on grassland phenotypic performance characteristics. No significant variety effect was estimated for total, seasonal or silage herbage production. Despite the lack of variety effects, pairwise comparisons found significant performance differences between individual varieties. Grazed herbage yield is of primary importance and was shown to be correlated strongly with total production (0.71); Grazed herbage yield differed significantly by variety, with a range of 1927 kg dry matter (DM)/ha between the highest and lowest performing varieties. Sward quality (dry matter digestibility [DMD]) and density were influenced by variety with a range of 44 g/kg DM for DMD and 0.7 ground score units between the highest and lowest performing varieties. Results of the current study show that on-farm evaluation is effective in identifying the most suitable varieties for intensive grazing regimes, and the phenotypic variance identified among varieties performance for many traits should allow for improved genetic gain in areas such as DM production, persistence and grazing efficiency.