Dairy Farmlets
Lactating cows within the Kellogg Farm dairy herd are divided into two long-term farmlet management systems: 1) High Stocking Rate/ High Supplemental Feed Input and 2) Low Stocking Rate/ Low Supplemental Feed Input. Within these farmlet herds researchers study the effects of dairy management on cow behavior, nutrition and health; forage production and utilization; ecosystem services; and the overall productivity and footprint of the systems. All research involving these animals or the pastures that they graze must fit within the farmlet management systems.
The High Stocking Rate / High Supplemental Feed Input farmlet consists of 60 lactating cows grazing 40 acres during an approximate 6 month grazing season, cow numbers will remain constant during the non-grazing period (winter). During the grazing season 60% of the dry matter intake (DMI) will be provided by pasture with the remainder coming from conserved feeds (20% as a partial mixed ration (pTMR) and 20% concentrate). During the winter months the ration will consist of 80% from a Total Mixed Ration (TMR), with the remainder being concentrate. Targets of 2.8 milkings and 65 pounds of milk per cow per day have been set for this group during the grazing season. Target production during the winter is 3.1 milkings and 75 pounds of milk per cow per day.
The Low Stocking Rate/ Low Supplemental Feed Input farmlet will consist of 75 lactating cows grazing 80 acres during an approximate 6 month grazing season, cow numbers will be reduced to 60 during the winter. Approximately 20% of this group will be bred to calve in the spring to allow for the greater cow numbers during the grazing season. During the grazing season 80% of the DMI will be provided by pasture with the remainder coming from concentrate (20%). During the winter the ration will be similar to that of the High Stocking Rate / High Supplemental Feed Input farmlet group. Targets of 2.0 milkings and 55 pounds of milk per cow per day have been set for this group during the grazing season. During the winter target production will be similar to that of the High Stocking Rate / High Supplemental Feed Input farmlet.
Within both farmlet systems two contrasting forage mixes (simple and complex pasture mix) are available within the pastures. The simple pasture mix includes perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.); while the complex mix includes orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), and white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Both the simple and complex pasture mixes contain approximately 40% legumes.
The dairy herd consists of approximately 70% North American Holstein genetics, with the remaining animals being New Zealand Freisian. The North American Holsteins have a mature body weight of 1400 to 1500 pounds; mature body weight of the Freisians is 800 to 900 pounds.
A more detailed description of the farmlet systems, with pasture map, can be downloaded here.
On-going Research
- Dairy Grazing Innovations for the Upper Midwest
- The overall objective of this research is to quantify how production (milk) and ecosystem impacts (processes and services) of grazing systems vary under different management options that impact the optimization of Automatic Milking Systems (AMS; 'robotic milking') as a milking system in pasture dairies.
- Objective 1 - Quantify milk production output, pasture and feed utilization, and reproductive efficiency of contrasting dairy farmlets that differ in the strategy of AMS optimization.
- Objective 2 - Examine milking and grazing behavior, milk production, nutrition, and reproductive performance of early lactation cows managed with AMS and contrasting stocking rates and supplemental feed levels.
- Objective 3 - Quantify the effect of temporal and spatial allocation of two contrasting grass-legume systems on the milking and grazing behavior, milk performance, and nutrition of early lactation dairy cows.
- Objective 4 - Evaluate the milking and grazing behavior and overall performance of North American and New Zealand Holstein dairy cows.
- Objective 5 - Evaluate the effect of dairy grazing systems managed with AMS and contrasting stocking rate and supplemental feed input on forage utilization of two contrasting grass-legume systems receiving strategic irrigation.
- Primary Investigator: Dr. Santiago Utsumi
- The effect of milking frequency on production, health and behavior of periparturient pastured dairy cows milked in an automatic milking system
- Primary Investigators: Dr. Janice Siegford and Dr. Elizabeth Karcher
The objective of this project is to characterize the effects of milking frequency on basic behavioral and production parameters of periparturient pastured dairy cows milked in AMS. The transition period, defined as three weeks before to three weeks following parturition, represents a time of physiological stress for the dairy cow. During transition, the dairy cow experiences a decline in dry matter intake despite an increased energy need to support the onset of lactation. Furthermore, cows are most susceptible to metabolic and infectious diseases during this critical time. The ability of milking frequency during early lactation to impact milk yield, behavior, and welfare of transition dairy cows has been established in conventional confinement operations. However, published research examining the effect of grazing and automatic milking systems (AMS) on the production, health or behavior of transition dairy cows is limited or nonexistent. The facilities at the Pasture Dairy Center (PDC) represent an excellent opportunity to explore the interaction of pastures and AMS on the productivity, behavior, and well-being of periparturient dairy cows.
- Supporting Sustainable Dairy Production: Benefits, Barriers, and Policy Options
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- This research represents a social science investigation on ways to enhance the sustainability of small and medium-sized dairy production in Michigan, focusing on pasture-based dairy systems and robotic milking technology. This research focuses on the possible social benefits of these production methods, barriers to adoption, and programs, policies, and market structures that may address these barriers.
- Primary Investigator: Dr. Diana Stuart
- The importance of natural and anthropogenic features on deer forage use and movements: implications for disease spread and transmission to livestock
- Primary Investigator: Dr. Kim Scribner
Free-ranging wildlife represent a reservoir of many diseases that are transmissible to livestock and humans (e.g., zoonotic enteric pathogens like Campylobacter). Predicting the spread of pathogens by wildlife is critical for identifying populations of wildlife, domestic livestock and humans at greatest risk, targeting surveillance, and designing proactive management prescriptions. However, the spatial distribution of disease in free-ranging wildlife is highly heterogeneous, even within localized areas. The distribution and potential for future spread of disease in free-ranging wildlife is complex and cannot be explained solely on the basis of spatial proximity and density based on simple diffusion models. Identifying populations at highest risk of infection, determining risks to domestic animals and humans, and designing optimal surveillance and control programs, requires an understanding of the importance of natural landscape features and land-use practices that affect habitat occupancy and movements. The objectives of the proposed feasibility study are to (a) evaluate levels of contact and competition between free ranging white-tailed deer and livestock; (b) determine whether contact rates differ depending on the community of crops upon which deer and livestock are feeding, and the areas within pastures that are used by deer and cattle; (c) evaluate potential transmission of pathogens between free-ranging deer and livestock; and (d) determine whether micro and macro-scale landscape features (both natural and anthropogenic) can predict contact among livestock and free-ranging deer.
- Alfalfa persistence and grazing intensity in a grass forage mix
- Primary Investigator: Dr. Tim Dickson
- This research will examine the effects of stocking rate on cattle selection of different forage species and on how different forage species re-grow between grazing bouts. Research will be conducted at the Kellogg Biological Station using non-lactating dairy cows and a five species cool-season grass – legume forage mix (alfalfa, red clover, white clover, orchardgrass, and tall fescue). The aim for the project is to determine how preference for alfalfa and other legumes changes over time with stocking density. This research will provide a better understanding of alfalfa and legume persistence in pastures and how forage species interact with each other at different grazing intensities.
Past Research
- Effects of Transition of Cows
- Cow Comfort during Transition to Automatic Milking System
- Cow Perching Behavior
- Lameness during Transition to Automatic Milking System
- Alternative Energy
- Anaerobic Digester
- Silage Leachate and Runoff Mitigation using a Constructed Treatment Wetland
Proposed and Future Research
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