Animal-friendly milking - Milk production from a feed viewpoint

With a view to animal-friendly milking, cattle feeding must be guided by the requirements of the cows, the environment and the dairy farmer. Here it is vital to be mindful of current developments in the fields of climate change, market process, finite resources, technical development and animal welfare. Priority is initially given to the cows with their special physiological challenges in different phases of production. Feeding must therefore be geared to principles which are ruminant-friendly, resource-efficient and which promote health and fertility. Working on the basis of these principles, the requirements of the farm and the farm manager’s ideas, each individual farm should formulate goals which are systematically implemented using a suitable feed strategy and the requisite action. It is clear from this that there are many different strategies which can lead to success, but every strategy requires that the following principles of dairy cattle feeding be observed: _\{ high feeding constancy _\{ flexible feed readjustments _\{ feeding tailored to requirements and ruminant needs _\{ feeding according to body condition The principles are derived from the requirements of animal physiology and feeding management. High feeding constancy, for example, is a prerequisite for meaningful feed controlling. Tailoring to requirements and ruminant needs implies husbandry and feeding geared to the cows’ requirements in the phases of end of lactation, dry period, preparatory feeding to calving, calving and initial feeding. Knowledge of animal requirements and the possibility of implementation in practical ration design is as a rule no longer the limiting factor for animal-friendly dairy cattle feeding. Consistent implementation and selective control of production are initially the more important points. As regards requirements, questions relating to amino acid supply and the structural effect of the ration should be considered a priority in the field of basic and applied research. In practice the range of feeding strategies and feeding systems extends from permanent access to pasture with winter calving through high-efficiency farms with no grazing to high-tech farms with AMS and automatic controlling. All these methods can meet the requirements of animal-friendly milking if they are geared to an individual farm and applied systematically. This calls for cross-disciplinary research geared to practical requirements, the corresponding reappraisal of knowledge and an appropriate source of advice. The procedure is explained using examples from current trials and advisory service work such as permanent pasture with winter calving, body condition score (BCS), backfat thickness in brindled cattle, and feeding systems with the use of milking machines.