Capturing urine while maintaining pasture intake, milk production, and animal welfare of dairy cows in early and late lactation

Abstract

Capturing urine and spreading it evenly across a paddock reduces the risk of nitrogen loss to the environment. This study investigated the effect of 16h/d removal from pasture on the capture of urination events, milk production, pasture intake, and animal welfare from cows grazing fresh pasture in early and late lactation. Forty-eight Holstein-Friesian cows in early [470±47kg of body weight (BW); 35±9 days in milk] and late (498±43kg of BW; 225±23 days in milk) lactation were allocated to 3 treatment groups. Cows had access to pasture for either 4h after each milking (2 × 4), for 8h between morning and afternoon milkings (1 × 8), or for 24h, excluding milking times (control). When not grazing, the 2 × 4 and 1 × 8 groups were confined to a plastic-lined loafing area with a woodchip surface. In early lactation, the proportion of urinations on pasture and laneways was reduced from 89% (control) to 51% (1 × 8) and 54% (2 × 4) of total urinations. The 1 × 8 cows ate less pasture [10.9kg of dry matter (DM)/cow per day] than the control (13.6kg of DM/cow per day) and 2 × 4 (13.0kg of DM/cow per day) cows, which did not differ from each other. The 1 × 8 and 2 × 4 cows produced less milk (21 and 22kg of milk/cow per day, respectively) compared with control cows (24kg of milk/cow per day). There were no differences in BW or body condition score (BCS) change across treatment groups, with all groups gaining BW and BCS during the experimental period. In late lactation, there was no difference in pasture intake (mean=8.8kg of DM/cow per day), milk production (mean=10kg of milk/cow per day), and BW or BCS change (mean=3.7kg and −0.2U/cow per week, respectively) between treatment groups. As in early lactation, urinations on pasture and laneways were reduced from 85% (control) to 56% (1 × 8) and 50% (2 × 4) of total urinations. These findings highlight an opportunity to maintain performance and welfare of grazing cows in early and late lactation while capturing additional urine. This can subsequently be spread evenly across pasture to minimize nitrogen loss to the environment.