Feed bunk scoring in the feeding of dairy cows

Abstract

Insufficient or excessive feeding is serious error in the feeding of dairy cows. The more serious problem is when there is not enough feed in the bunk. Every limitation in daily intake of feeds leads to decreased milk production. In order have continual and fairly accurate observation of the feed intake it is necessary to introduce an appropriate scoring system of the feed bunk contents. In the free stall production system it is needed to observe the whole bunk surface, while in tie stalls only the space in front of cows is monitored. The right moment to score the bunk is one hour before feeding, regardless of the number of feeding. There are several bunk scoring systems and they are explained in this paper. Although it is relatively new method, the first obtained results demonstrate that feed bunk scoring can help farmers to timely observe the problems connected with feeds and feeding regime.

Nedovoljno ili preterano davanje hrane u ishrani muznih krava su ozbiljne greške. Ozbiljniji od ova dva problema je nedostatak hrane u jaslama. Svako ograničavanje konzumiranja hrane smanjuje proizvodnju mleka. Da bi bilo moguće da se kontinuirano i relativno precizno prati konzumiranje hrane potrebno je da se uvede odgovarajuć i sistem ocene ispunjenosti jasala hranom. U slobodnom sistemu držanja treba proveravati kompletnu površinu jasala koje su dostupne kravama, dok se kod vezanog sistema pažnja poklanja prostoru ispred svake krave. Pravo vreme za ocenu ispunjenosti jasala je u toku poslednjeg sata pred hranjenje, bez obzira na to koliko puta se krave hrane u toku dana. Postoji nekoliko sistema ocene ispunjenosti jasala i oni su prikazani u ovom radu. Iako se radi o relativno novoj metodi, prvi rezultati govore da ocena ispunjenosti jasala može da pomogne odgajivačima da na vreme zapaze postojeće probleme vezane za hraniva i režim ishrane.