Automated measurement of milk yield in suckler cows

Session 45. Indicators, hi-tech solutions, and tools to effectively manage cattle

International audience

English. The productivity of suckler cow farms depends on the number of calves weaned per cow and of their weights atweaning, as these are the criteria used for selling them. To ensure calf weight gain, supplementation with concentrateshas become the preferred method, therefore, it is essential to maintain and develop the dairy potential ofsuckler cows (SC) to reduce feed costs. The aim of this project is to develop a validated reference model for predictingmilk production (MP) in SC. The standard method for quantifying MP involves weighing the calf beforeand after suckling. This method is time-consuming and requires significant manpower, and is therefore only usedin a few experimental stations. The development of automated weighing and electronic animal identification hasled to the emergence of an alternative method that could become the reference. The concept is to allow the calfto suckle its mother freely, with a compulsory weighting between its pen and mother one. The software processesthe weights collected automatically to estimate MP. INRAE’s Herbipôle unit designed and tested a prototype 7winters on 117 cows, 71 Charolais (CH) and 46 Salers (SA). Each winter was divided in 6 periods of 14 days.Each period alternated between 4 days of standard method (2 sucklings/day) and 10 days of free suckling with thedevice based on automatic weighing at each pen change. An algorithm transform calf weights into MP. The calvessuckled 3.1 ± 1.5 times/day during the first period compared to 4.5 ± 1.7 during the last. The free device estimatedthat MP was 8.3 ± 2.1 kg/d for SA, 6.9 ± 1.3 for CH, with a good correlation with the reference method (r² from0.86 to 0.66 from period 1 to 6). The free device has been validated and will be extended to various suckler cattleexperimental stations to measure MP of other breeds in various breeding conditions.