Borealis
Nizzi, Ellyn;
Foris, Borbala;
Weary, D.M;
Boudon, Anne;
von Keyserlingk, M.A.G
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2024-03-25
Water is an essential resource for dairy cows and its consumption is closely linked to feed intake. Social competition can lead to changes in drinking behavior. We studied how the combination of stocking at the drinker (6 or 12 cows per drinker) and temporal feed restriction (14 or 24 h access) impacts drinking in 4 groups of 6 cows each, following a Latin Square design. We recorded drinking behavior and agonistic interactions (i.e., replacements) at the drinker; within each group of 6 focal cows, 2 were identified as most dominant, 2 as most subordinate, and the 2 others as intermediate, based on success when engaged in agonistic interactions at the feeder. Intermediate and subordinate cows drank less water when feed access was restricted (7.9 L/d less ± 5.2). Subordinate cows also spent less time drinking when overstocked (12.5 min/d less ± 6.4). During treatments with more competition, cows, regardless of dominance, shifted and increased their percentages of daily water of 2h and 1h after the morning and afternoon peak of consumption respectively found during control treatment. Our findings provide evidence that feed restriction and overstocking at the drinker changes the drinking behavior of cows with subordinate animals experiencing more pronounced effects.