The amount of time an animal spends ruminating is affected by species, breed, physical and chemical characteristics of the diet, health condition, feed intake, and production level. Approximately a third of the variation in rumination time in dairy cattle has been shown to be related to feed intake, primarily two main diet components which are NDF and starch.
Rumination can occur anytime throughout the day but tends to follow a daily pattern, with cattle spending a greater proportion of time ruminating at night and following feeding periods. Rumination is more likely to occur when cows are lying down, making it important to ensure that dairy cows have adequate, comfortable space. A dairy cow in a conventional United States dairy will on average spend between 7 to 8 hours ruminating per day.
Rumination time is broken up into several individual bouts throughout the day with each bout lasting from a few minutes to over an hour. An individual bolus or cud will be chewed for 30 to 70 seconds before being swallowed. Dairy producers, animal nutritionists and veterinarians have long recognized the importance of rumination as an indicator of dairy cattle health and performance.
Traditionally, visual observation of rumination activity was the only on-farm option available to assess rumen health. However, this method can be time consuming and only allows an assessment at a population level, while individual animal rumination data help producers to promptly identify specific animals that may need attention.
Furthermore, this method is subject to discrepancies between observers and the time of the day that observers perform the assessment. Rumination is affected by daily practices on the farm, such as feeding, and the time during the day e.
For these reasons, although visual observations of cattle to assess rumination activity could be a good estimation of cow comfort and health at a population level, this method may not provide an accurate representation of individual cow rumination. Currently, several companies produce commercially available rumination monitoring systems.
These rumination sensors are usually integrated into activity monitor devices, eartags or neck collars that are used to aid in the reproductive management on the dairy. For systems commonly used in the United States, these devices use either accelerometers to measure small changes in animal position and movement to determine rumination time or acoustic systems that record chewing behavior.
Though less common, some rumination monitoring systems use a bolus placed in the rumen of the animal or a pressure sensor located on a noseband. Many of the systems available are capable of distinguishing eating behavior from rumination behavior and, in addition to rumination time, some will also report eating time. Regardless of where the sensor is positioned on the animal or the animal housing system on the farm freestall, tie-stall, grazing , these tags have been shown to be effective in monitoring rumination behavior.
Numerous independent research studies have validated the accuracy and precision of the major systems on the market, with universities increasingly using the technology as a tool to measure rumination time in research studies.
With the increasing availability of commercial rumination monitoring systems in recent years, there has been a corresponding increase in research looking at the relationship between rumination and a wide variety of health conditions, environmental factors, nutrition and management. Much of this research is focused on using rumination as an indicator of changes in animal performance and welfare. Each herd and each individual animal within a herd will have its own rumination pattern based on factors such as diet, stage of production, and other factors mentioned previously in this article Figure 1.
If cows at Farm A average minutes of rumination per day while cows at Farm B average minutes of rumination per day, it should not be assumed that cows at Farm A are healthier or are raised under better conditions than cows at Farm B Figures 2A and 2B.
The results of the present study should therefore be interpreted as guidelines for eating and rumination variables. However, this is the first study of this kind in a large number of cows, which improves the reliability of the presented data, although the findings do not apply universally. Eating and rumination characteristics are sensitive indicators of many disorders including postpartum metabolic diseases, and we recommend that large herds establish separate normal ranges when major ration changes occur.
In experimental studies, it is critical to include a control group that is kept under identical conditions as the studied group. A sudden drop in eating and rumination activity in an individual cows indicates illness but also can be related to the onset of parturition [ 10 ]. When multiple cows are affected, external factors should be considered.
For instance, when a sudden drop in eating and rumination variables was observed in a small herd of Scottish Highland cattle, prompt investigation of the problem showed a defective drinking water supply, which had caused the cows to go off feed [ 11 ]. The eating and rumination variables established in the present study are based on the observation of cows from modern dairy herds, reflect the current conditions of Swiss dairy farming and serve as reference intervals for detecting sick cows.
Young BA. A simple method for the recording of jaw movement patterns. J Inst Anim Techn. Google Scholar. A simple electronic device and computer interface system for monitoring chewing behavior of stall-fed ruminant animals.
J Dairy Sci. Matsui K, Okubo T. A method for quantification of jaw movements suitable for use on free-ranging cattle. Appl Anim Behav Sci. Article Google Scholar. Lindgren E. Validation of rumination measurement equipment and the role of rumination in dairy cow time budgets. Master Thesis. Uppsala, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Technical note: Validation of a system for monitoring rumination in dairy cows. Agrarforschung Schweiz. Dr Med Vet Thesis. Zurich, University of Zurich. Evaluation of eating and rumination behaviour in cows using a noseband pressure sensor. BMC Vet Res. Tschoner T. Evaluation of eating and rumination behaviour using a noseband pressure sensor in cows during the peripartum period.
Eating and rumination behaviour of Scottish Highland cattle on pasture and in loose housing during the winter. Schweiz Arch Tierheilk. Chewing activity, saliva production, and ruminal pH of primiparous and multiparous lactating dairy cows. Freer M, Campling RC. Factors affecting the voluntary intake of food by cows. The behaviour and reticular motility of cows given diets of hay, dried grass, concentrates and ground, pelleted hay.
Br J Nutr. Metz JHM. Time patterns of feeding and rumination in domestic cattle. PhD Dissertation. Wageningen, University of Wageningen. Variation in and relationships among feeding, chewing, and drinking variables for lactating dairy cows. Feeding patterns of lactating cows of three different breeds fed hay, corn silage, and grass silage. Physiol Behav. The effect of corn silage particle size on eating behavior, chewing activities, and rumen fermentation in lactating dairy cows. Beauchemin KA.
Next, food passes into the small intestine where the breakdown continues and where the body absorbs nutrients. This basic digestive process is also true of cows, but there are a few extra steps along the way.
Cows are unique in that they have fewer teeth than other animals. In the front of the mouth, teeth known as incisors are only located on the bottom jaw. In addition, cattle have a relatively immobile upper lip compared to goats and sheep.
Because of this unique oral anatomy, a cow uses its tongue to grasp a clump of grass and then bite it off. Teeth in the back of the mouth known as molars are located on the top and bottom jaws. Plant materials sometimes contain tough stems, but because a cow chews food in a side-to-side motion, the molars shred the grass into small pieces that are more easily digested.
Diagram 1. Diagram 2. Use the letters that label the stomach parts in Diagrams 1 and 2 to identify the similarities and differences between the two stomachs. Notice that the letters do more than identify the structures; they also map the path food travels on its digestive journey.
In the cow, rather than having a single pouch, there are four interconnected pouches, each with a unique function. When a cow first takes a bite of grass, it is chewed very little before it is swallowed. This is a characteristic feature of the digestion in cows.
Cows are constantly giving us signals about their health and productivity. Learn how sensors can help us understand these signals. Cows have busy days. They need to have enough time for feeding, ruminating and lying. And then there is the time required for milking, treatments and other management activities. All and all this means that cows run a tight schedule.
Dairy cows in freestalls spend 4 to 6 hours eating, consuming 9 to 14 meals per day. In addition, they ruminate about 10 hours and require approximately 12 to 14 hours of lying in 11 lying bouts.
That leaves at most 3 hours per day for other behaviour, including management activities. Note that rumination and lying time are overlapping a bit. In total, cows spend around 16 hours on rumination and lying combined.
This means 7 hours of ruminating while lying, 3 hours of ruminating while standing and 6 hours of lying without rumination Figure 1. And remember, it is the last cow leaving the parlour that determines the time away for milking for the entire pen!
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