Variability in behavior and production among dairy cows fed under differing levels of competition
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of differing levels of competition for feed access on group-housed dairy cows, and on variations in behavior and productivity between individuals within each group. Eighteen lactating Holstein cows, averaging 77 ± 20 d in milk with a production of 46 ± 7 kg/d at the start of the trial, were divided into subgroups of 3 and fed a total mixed ration 3×/d. Groups were exposed to each of 3 competition levels: high (3 cows:1 feed bin), moderate (3 cows:2 feed bins), and low (3 cows:3 feed bins). Treatments were assigned in random order according to a modified Latin-square design, and each was applied for 10 d. Using an automated feed intake system, feeding behavior data (dry matter intake, feeding time, feeding rate, and meal patterns) were recorded for each cow on d 6 to 10 of each treatment period. Additional behavioral [sorting, rumination, competitive interactions (replacements), lying time] and production (milk yield and components) data were collected. Greater competition resulted in a reduction in feeding time (low = 202.6, moderate = 194.9, high = 183.6 min/d; SE = 8.84), and an increased rate of feed intake (low = 0.16, moderate = 0.18, high = 0.20 kg of dry matter/min; SE = 0.01), especially following fresh feed delivery and milking. Dry matter intake was similar across treatments (average of 29.1 kg/d). Meal length increased under high competition (low = 37.0, moderate = 36.6, high = 47.3 min/meal; SE = 5.05) due to greater non-feeding time within meals, which was approximately twice as long under high competition (low = 10.0, moderate = 10.8, high = 20.3 min/meal; SE = 3.24). Daily lying time (low = 10.2, moderate = 10.2, high = 9.5 h/d; SE = 0.51) and milk protein yield (low = 1.41, mod = 1.42, high = 1.36 kg/d; SE = 0.05) were reduced under high competition. Analysis of individual within-group variability, calculated as the daily standard deviation of each group, averaged across 5 recording days, revealed greater variability in feeding time, feeding rate, meal length, non-feeding time within meals, milk yield, milk fat composition (%), and milk fat component yield (kg/d) under high competition. These results suggest that at elevated competition levels, cows modify their feeding behavior to consume feed in a shorter period and devote a large portion of their mealtime toward waiting to gain feed access, resulting in reduced daily lying time. Furthermore, meal patterns and milk production vary greatly within groups of cows at high levels of competition for feed access.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".