Voerstrategie en bezoekgedrag aan het automatisch melksysteem = Feeding strategy and visit behaviour on the automatic milking system

Abstract

By use of an automatic milk system (AM-system) it is desirable that cows enter the AM-system their selves voluntarily on a regular basis. Forcing cows to visit the AM-system to overcome long milking intervals is laborious. Such cows are identified as “lazy cows”. The number of lazy cows can be decreased by feeding most of the concentrates in Automatic Concentrate Feeders (ACF). In comparison to feed the concentrates in the Total Mixed Ration (TMR) the number of lazy cows halved if the concentrates were fed in ACF. Starch content of the ration had no effect on visit behaviour of cows to the AM