Competitive behaviour of dairy cows at a concentrate self-feeder

• Published in: Acta agriculturae Scandinavica. Section A, Animal science Vol. 55; no. 2-3; pp. 98 - 105
• Main Authors: Katainen, Anu, Norring, Marianna, Manninen, Emmi, Laine, Johanna, Orava, Tarja, Kuoppala, Kaisa, Saloniemi, Hannu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01-12-2005
• Subjects: automatic feeding; butting; disturbance
• ISSN: 0906-4702; 1651-1972
• DOI: 10.1080/09064700500239453

We investigated whether feeding cows are disturbed by butting of other cows during the time they are in a concentrate self-feeder, and whether this leads to concentrate leftovers. Forty dairy cows were observed while visiting two self-feeders. If a cow was butted visiting the self-feeder, it was considered as 'disturbed visit'. When retreating from the feeder within five seconds after being butted, the visit was also considered 'interrupted'. Half of the visits were disturbed, and 42% of visits were also interrupted. Visits were disturbed particularly when cows' own feed was dispensed, and in 63% of disturbed visits concentrates were left over. The non-lactating cows, denied concentrates, won leftover concentrates after butting the previous visitor more often than lactating cows. Cows' weight correlated negatively with visiting and receiving butting. Initiated butting correlated positively with winning leftover concentrates. There is a need for further development of automatic feeders to secure individual concentrate feeding.