Behavioral activity of dairy cows milked in a free traffic automated milking system

Kazan State Academy of Veterinary Medicine named after N.E. Bauman, 420029, Kazan, Russia

^* Corresponding author: abdul0401@rambler.ru

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the behavioral activity of lactating cows kept in an automatic milking system (AMS) with free cow traffic. Thirty-two lactating Holstein dairy cows (13 primiparous and 19 multiparous) with a lactation number of 1.94 ± 0.2 (mean ± SD), days in milk of 152 ± 13.2 d, and a milk yield of 31.0 ± 1.8 kg/d were enrolled in the study. The cows had access to 2 single-box AMS. Durations of individual acts of behavior was determined by visual observations of individual cows over 3 days and was calculated for each day of observation. Cows spent 280.8 ± 11.2 min/d eating. This eating time was dividing into 9.2 ± 0.4 bouts/d, which lasted 30.7 ± 1.0 min. This accounted for 19.5% of total time spent eating. The cows' lying time was 660.9 ± 27.9 min/d, lying bout frequency was 7.4 ± 0.4 bouts/d, and the lying bout duration was 89.2 ± 23.3 min/bout and accounted for 45.9% of the total time spent lying. The rumination activity time of cows was 508.0±3.6 min/d, the rumination activity bout frequency was 11.9±0.4 bouts/d, and the duration of a rumination activity bout was 39.3 ± 1.0 min. This accounted for 36,2% of total time spent rumination activity. The standing time of cows was 779.1 ± 27.9 min/d or 54.1% of the total time, and the walking time of cows was 10.3 ± 0.5 min/d or 0.7% of the total time. The milking time of cows is 20.49 ± 0.92 min/d (or 1.4% of the total time), milking frequency is 3.2 ± 0.1 times per day, milking bout duration is 5.49 ± 0.92 min/times. These results add to body of literature on cow behavioral activity under AMS conditions.