Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - PLATTEVILLE
1 UNIVERSITY PLAZA
PLATTEVILLE,WI 53818
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Automated milking systems (AMS) are rapidly being adopted by dairy farmers in the United States. This technology changes how a dairy farmer manage their lactating dairy cows by using automated processes to individualize cow management. Part of that individualization is the potential to customize the type and quantity of nutrient-dense feed (concentrate) a cow receives while being milked in the AMS. This capacity is often called precision feeding because it can be prescribed based on animal factors like productivity, age, and stage of lactation. That said, research looking at indirect indicators of cow health, like milk ketone body concentrations, has suggested AMS cows are at greater risk of metabolic illness after calving. These illnesses are often tied to inadequate nutrient supply. Also, the potential benefits of AMS-enabled precision feeding strategies to alter greenhouse gas emissions have not been extensively explored. Therefore, there is a growing demand for research-based recommendations on AMS-enabled cow management strategies like precision nutrition to address farm goals related to productivity, health, and sustainability. The long-term goal of this proposal is to further develop UW-Platteville's Pioneer Farms into an epicenter of collaborative and integrated AMS research, pioneering questions regarding cow nutrition, health, and environmental sustainability. Our first objective is to procure a GreenFeed system to use at Pioneer Farm (UW-Platteville) to quantify individual cow enteric gas emissions like methane and carbon dioxide. This capacity will enable our research to include sustainability objectives that address dairy production's contributions to climate change. The second objective of our proposal is to utilize the GreenFeed to conduct a novel AMS-enabled precision feeding experiment that will evaluate the effects of feeding strategies on cow 2a) productivity and health, 2b) nutrient and energetic efficiency, and 2c) rumen fermentation chemistry and greenhouse gas emissions. We will investigate nine combinations of treatments that explore feeding strategies for early lactation cows; they vary in AMS concentrate acclimation after calving and post-acclimation progressive feed tables. There are three concentrate acclimation treatments that differ in how many days after calving a cow is fed a low level of AMS concentrate before switching to a progressive feed table: 0 days, 7 days, and 14 days. Post-acclimation treatments differ in the production basis used to precision feed cows concentrate after acclimation. These include a static feeding rate (no precision feeding), a milk yield-based feeding rate (the current standard), and a novel energy-corrected milk-based feeding rate. The GreenFeed capacity and preliminary data from this experiment will be leveraged to pursue future funding from USDA grant programs. Additionally, findings from this research will better inform dairy farmers and other stakeholders on the best practices to improve farm profitability and sustainability through utilization of AMS as a smart technology.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
70%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
This proposal's long-term goal is to develop UW-Platteville into an epicenter of collaborative and integrated automated milking system (AMS) research that pioneers questions regarding cow nutrition, health, and environmental sustainability. To that end, we have the following objectives:Objective 1) is to expand UW-Platteville's capacity to conduct comprehensive, integrated AMS research that addresses sustainability through the acquisition of a GreenFeed unit. The GreenFeed is a portable equipment that measures cow enteric emissions (i.e. methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen). This will enable us to capture gas emission data from cows group housed in a free stall barn, versus an individual cow respiration chamber.Objective 2) is to leverage the GreenFeed's capacity to measure enteric gas emissions to conduct an experiment assessing the impact of AMS-enabled precision feeding strategies on (2a) cow productivity and metabolic health, (2b) nutrient and energetic use efficiency, and (2c) rumen fermentation chemistry and greenhouse gas emissions. This project is a collaborative endeavor between UW-Platteville and the USDA-ARS Dairy Forage Research Center. The collaboration and preliminary data from the project will strengthen UW-Platteville's competitiveness when pursuing future funding and help build the reputation of our program.
Project Methods
The major efforts of this proposal are to acquire the GreenFeed system and execute a preliminary research project using the GreenFeed.Acquisition of the GreenFeed will be performed in cooperation with the UW-System procurement team, using their standard protocols. Due to the uniqueness of the equipment and its capacity, it will undergo a sole-source approval process.For the experiment, cows will be enrolled on a rolling basis onto the experiment in a randomized complete block design with parturition week as the blocking factor. All cows will be housed in a common freestall pen complimented with an automated milking system unit (Lely A5). Treatments are in a 3x3x2 design and will be employed automatically through the AMS feed table settings. Briefly, a feed table will be designed for each combination of a 3x3 factorial of concentrate adaptation and post-adaptation feed table treatments. Concentrate adaptation treatments will differ in the length of time postpartum that the cow will be provisioned AMS concentrate at a low feeding rate (3 kg/d) prior to enrolling in a post-adaptation feed table treatment. The three adaptation treatments are 0 d, 7 d, and 14 d postpartum. Post-adaptation feed table treatments will differ in the strategy used to determine AMS concentrate provision after adaptation. The three feed table treatments will include a static feeding rate (6 kg/d), a traditional milk yield-based progressive feeding rate, and a novel energy-corrected milk (ECM)-based progressive feeding rate. Because the AMS is not capable of automatically adjusting concentrate feeding based on the novel ECM strategy, the progressive feed table treatments will have concentrate feeding rates adjusted manually on a weekly basis. Parity group is the two-level factor of the complete design (3x3x2) where levels differ in their parity status: primiparous vs multiparous cows. Because the parity factor does not alter the feed table, additional tables do not need to be designed to accommodate the full 3x3x2 factorial. To simulate real-world conditions, all cows will be fed the same partial mixed ration formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of the average lactating cow when provisioning the static AMS concentrate feeding rate.Daily measurements of cow milk production, AMS concentrate feeding, milking event data, and body weight will be recorded by the AMS. Daily feed intake measurements will be recorded by the RIC2Discover feed intake system that also compliments the free stall. Enteric gas emissions will be recorded multiple times a day as cows visit the GreenFeed voluntarily to access a food reward (AMS concentrate). Composite milk samples will be collected using an automated milk sampler (Lely shuttle) and submitted to a DHIA milk testing laboratory for composition analysis by mid-infrared spectroscopy. Feed ingredient samples will be collected weekly to monitor feed dry matter; at the end of the experiment, the dried feed will be ground and composited monthly for chemical analysis by an external lab. Blood samples will be collected from a coccygeal vessel prior to feeding at pre-determined days in milk. After blood centrifugation, plasma aliquots will be frozen until analyte quantification (i.e. glucose and fatty acids) by colorimetric assay performed with a high volume chemistry autoanalyzer (Carysta HVC, Zoetis). Spot sampling of feces and urine will occur in 4-hour increments to reflect daily excretion. Urine samples will be acidified and assays of interest (i.e. creatinine) will be performed internally. Fecal samples will be dried, ground, and analyzed for composition internally. Cannulated cows will have rumen contents sampled every two weeks from 3 rumen locations in 2-hour intervals that represent a day. After straining, the rumen liquid will be analyzed for pH immediately and aliquots will be acidified and frozen. Acidified aliquots will be analyzed for pertinent analytes (i.e. volatile fatty acids) internally using flow injection analysis and high-performance liquid chromatography. All internal and external sample analyses will be performed using AOAC documented and approved methods.Experimental data will be analyzed predominately by generalized linear mixed models that account for design features and covariates as fixed or random effects. Depending on the data, repeated measures of cow within treatment across time will be modeled. We will implement standard software in this analysis (i.e. SAS 9.4). Result interpretation and synthesis will be performed collaboratively between the PDs. Likewise, dissemination will be performed collaboratively with PD Pralle taking the lead role.Project success will be evaluated based on the degree of progress on project metrics that are determined in collaboration with the external project evaluator. Examples of metrics include the acquisition timeline of the GreenFeed, the number of cows with completed sampling, percent missingness of data, counts of outreach activity and stakeholders reached, and publication counts.