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The objectives of the current study were to describe changes in rumination and feeding behavior around calving. Rumination time, feeding time, and dry matter intake were monitored in 11 freestall-housed cows from 96 h before to 48 h after calving. Data were summarized in 2-h and 24-h periods, adjusting for calving time. Differences between baseline (96 to 24h before calving) and subsequent 24-h periods were evaluated. Compared with baseline, cows spent, on average, 63 ± 30 min/24h less time ruminating and 66 ± 16 min/24h less time feeding in the 24-h period before calving. These behaviors continued to decline during the 24-h period after calving when, compared with baseline, time spent ruminating decreased on average by 133 ± 35 min/24h and time spent feeding decreased by 82 ± 18 min/24h. Dry matter intake tended to decrease by 3.8 ± 1.9 kg in the 24-h period before calving but returned to baseline values in the 24-h following calving. Rumination time and time spent feeding started to decline approximately 4 and 8h before calving, respectively, and increased in the 4 to 6h following calving. Rumination time and time spent feeding show promise as tools to identify cows close to calving.
Schirmann et al. (Wed,) studied this question.