Efficient cow - Estimation of feed intake for efficiency traits using on-farm recorded data

Abstract

Increasing efficiency is necessary to cope with scarce resources and higher costs especially for energy and concentrate. The Federation of Austrian Cattle Breeders (ZAR) started the project "Efficient Cow" in 2013 to evaluate efficiency traits in cattle breeding under Austrian conditions. Data of approximately 5400 cows, i.e. 3100 Fleckvieh (dual purpose Simmental), 1300 Brown Swiss, 1000 Holstein kept on 167 farms were recorded over a whole year. Feed intake was predicted by a model considering animal and ration specific parameters. The observation of the individual feeding information considering the variety of feeding systems and ration compositions was the biggest challenge. A novel data encoding system for ration components was established to reflect different on-farm feeding situations correctly and to ensure a successful and structured further processing for intake prediction. A total of 1960 different rations could be reduced to 16 different ration types and therefore calculation methods depending on the way ration components were offered, namely mixed together, separately or without known amount or proportion in diet like pasture.