Abstract

Ingestive behaviour of New Zealand (NZ) and overseas (OS) Holstein-Friesian (HF) dairy cows grazing pasture only or fed a total mixed ration (TMR) was observed in late lactation. Data from visual observations every 10 minutes over a 48-h period were used to evaluate differences in time spent feeding, ruminating, standing and lying. OS HF and cows fed TMR had greater dry matter intakes (DMI) than their respective comparisons. Cows grazing pasture spent more time feeding, less time ruminating, less time standing and the same time lying, compared to cows fed TMR. OS HF spent less time feeding, the same time ruminating, the same time standing, and more time lying compared to NZ HF. When expressed in terms of DMI, OS HF took less time to consume a kg of DM, and spent less time ruminating each kg of DM compared to NZ HF, irrespective of diet. A genotype x diet interaction was observed for time spent standing, with NZ HF spending more time standing when fed TMR, but standing for a similar time as OS HF when grazing. These results suggest feeding and grazing behaviour differences between HF cows of differing genotype, but similar breeding worth.

PL, Thorne, JG Jago, ES Kolver, and JR Roche

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 63, Queenstown, 124-127, 2003