Measuring platform for feed intake by dairy cows

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The current and future research topics in dairy cattle breeding aim at gaining scientific knowledge in the field of resource efficiency, environmental relevance, understanding the physiological relationships, animal health and animal welfare. For knowledge-based approaches to clarify these complex questions, the continuous measurement of individual animal feed intake is an absolutely essential prerequisite. The implementation of a measuring platform for feed intake by dairy cows is planned in the newly built dairy cattle barn at the research farm of Kiel University in Karkendamm, which is in charge of the Institute for Animal Breeding and Husbandry. The device configuration ensures the recording of time points, the duration and the amount of feed taken up for each individual feeding process of a dairy cow at the respective feed trough. For this purpose, the specially manufactured feed troughs are equipped with weighing devices consisting of load cells and detection electronics, which in turn are electronically connected to a central unit. The identification of the individual animal takes place via RFID (radio-frequency identification) transponders; this means that each eating process can be assigned to a specific animal. The amount of fresh feed taken up is calculated from the weight difference between the contents of a weighing trough before and after the animal’s visit. This information is transmitted to the central unit together with the animal identification. All individual feeding processes are saved chronologically and aggregated into daily values ​​via the various weighing troughs visited. Regular feed analyzes and standardized feed drying procedures, which are partly carried out at the farm allow to determine the dry matter intake for each individual animal. Based on this, the data collected by the device together with data routinely recorded on the farm (milk quantities, milk ingredients) can be used to determine the energy balance, feed and nitrogen efficiencies at the individual animal or herd level. The central unit on the farm is connected to the institute's own database via a dedicated line and automated data transmission is once daily. For specific scientific questions, the animal-specific information can be linked with e.g. genotyping results or physiological parameters and evaluated integrally.The system is integrated into the normal process of dairy cattle feeding and the troughs are filled, cleaned and maintained by the employees of the farm. All responsible researchers have free access to the device; all other users have access to the institute's own data base at the computing center in order to use the measurement data.