Data from: Limit feeding TMR exacerbates intersucking in year-old dairy heifers
Data files
Jun 06, 2023 version files 101.99 KB
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Intersucking_and_eating_data.xlsx
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README.pdf
Dec 22, 2023 version files 105.12 KB
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Intersucking_and_eating_data.xlsx
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README.md
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README.pdf
Abstract
Limit feeding is a practice that is used to improve feed efficiency and control growth in dairy heifers, but also has negative consequences associated with hunger and restriction of feeding behavior. One such consequence could be intersucking (i.e., the licking or sucking of another animal’s teats or udder). This behavior is reported to varying degrees in heifers, and thus, our first objective was to evaluate whether intersucking increased in response to short-term (48 h) feed restriction. Intersucking interventions, such as nose rings, are often applied to specific animals, and so our second objective was to describe intersucking performance in individual heifers, including those that represent outliers in this population. We studied 42 heifers (9 Jerseys, 33 Holsteins) aged 12.8 ± 1.1 mo (mean ± SD). They were housed in 21 pairs, the experimental unit for our first objective. We used a switchback design with 3 periods of 2 d each where heifers were fed ad libitum total mixed ration in the first and third periods (Baseline and Return, respectively), and limit fed to 50% of ad libitum intake in the second period (Restriction). We scored time spent intersucking continuously and eating at 5-min intervals from video recordings from 0800 to 2000 h on 4 d (baseline d 2, restriction d 2, return d 1, and return d 2). Heifer pairs spent less time eating (16 ± 0.4% mean percentage of 12-h observations ± SE), more time intersucking (27 ± 7 s/12 h), and engaged in longer bouts of intersucking (23 ± 5 s/bout) on Restriction d 2 compared with all other days (eating: 34.7 ± 1.1%, 44.2 ± 0.9%, 35.8 ± 1.1% of 12-h; intersucking time: 7 ± 2, 7 ± 3, 10 ± 5 s/12 h; intersucking bout length: 3 ± 1, 2 ± 1, 3 ± 1 s/bout; Baseline d 2, Return d 1, Return d 2, respectively). There was no difference in the number of bouts of intersucking across days (1.3 ±0.2 bouts/12 h). The drop in eating during feed restriction was followed by a rebound on Return d 1 before returning to baseline levels. Time spent intersucking did not differ among ad libitum periods. Overall, 90% of the heifers performed intersucking on at least 1 of the 4 d, and did this for 1 to 127 s/12 h (range) in 1 to 13 bouts/12 h. Of the heifers that intersucked, 55% did this at extreme levels relative to the rest of the experimental population (outliers). Solid feed restriction exacerbated intersucking in year-old heifers, but this behavior was widespread.
README: Data from: Limit feeding TMR exacerbates intersucking in year-old dairy heifers
Data were collected from 42 pair-housed dairy heifers (Jerseys, n=9; Holsteins, n=33) that were approximately 13 mo old to evaluate whether intersucking was affected by solid feed provision. Heifers were fed an ad-libitum total mixed ration (TMR) for 2 d ("Baseline"), then restricted to 50% of their previous intake for 2 d ("Restriction") before being returned to ad-libitum TMR for 2 d ("Return"). Heifers were observed from 08:00-20:00 in each period for time spent intersucking and eating. Intersucking was scored continuously, while eating was scored at 5-min scans. Heifers were tested in 5 total cohorts of 4-5 pairs of heifers per cohort.
Description of the data and file structure
- Intersucking and eating data.xlsx; This file presents data from all 42 heifers ("ID" column) and identifies them as Jerseys or Holsteins ("Breed" column). Behavior was scored from 08:00-20:00 on Baseline d 2, Restriction d 2, Return d 1, and Return d 2 ("Experimental period" column).
- "Eating" sheet; This sheet presents proportion of observations spent eating from 08:00-20:00 on each of the 4 d (column “Experimental period”). Eating was scored at 5-min intervals. In the manuscript and figure, these results are converted to percentages to improve readability.
- “Intersucking” sheet; This sheet presents total time (s), number of bouts, and bout length (s) intersucking from 08:00-20:00 on each of the 4 d (column “Experimental period”). 0s indicate that heifers did not perform the behavior. Intersucking was scored continuously.
- “Cohort and pen info” sheet; This sheet provides information about cohort and pen number for all heifers. These values indicate unique pairings when combined, and are used in the .Rmd file to collapse individual-level data into pair averages.
- Supplemental Table and Figure.pdf; This PDF includes 1 table and 1 figure.
- Supplemental Table S1. This table includes raw means, SE, and 95% CI for intersucking and eating, along with model outputs.
- Supplemental Figure S1. This is a photo of the total mixed ration (TMR; alfalfa, almond hulls, cottonseed, corn, barley, beet pulp) fed to year-old heifers.
- Intersucking and eating models and figures.Rmd; This RMarkdown file uses the .xlsx file listed above to build and validate models to describe effects of feed availability on time spent eating and intersucking, describe individual performance of intersucking, and produce the figures presented in the manuscript. The Rmd file can be downloaded and run in R, and is annotated.
- Intersucking and eating models and figures.pdf; This file is the PDF output of the corresponding RMarkdown file, and includes the code and output previews. This file is annotated.
Code/Software
All analyses were run in R using RStudio. Software versions, including those for all packages used, are included in Intersucking and eating models and figures.Rmd and the associated PDF export.
Methods
The methods are described in the associated research publication.