For ruminants, grazing and ruminating activities are essential in nutrient capture and ultimately animal performance however these activities can demand significant time and energy. This study evaluated the effect of three different pasture allocation frequencies (PAF’s; 12, 24 and 36 h) on the feeding behaviour of grazing dairy cows. Eighty-seven spring calving dairy cows were divided into three treatments. Animals were rotationally grazed with fixed paddock sizes of 0.14 ha, 0.28 ha and 0.42 ha paddocks for the 12 h, 24 h and 36 h treatments, respectively. Animals (14 per treatment) were fitted with behaviour halters that monitored feeding activity. Diurnal feeding patterns were evident for all animals irrespective of PAF, concentrating the majority of grazing during daytime (90%) and ruminating activity during night (73%). Treatment significantly affected feeding behavior patterns. Peak grazing activity coincided with fresh pasture allocation in the 12 h and 24 h treatments. In the 36 h treatment, grazing was more evenly distributed over each 24 h period with peak grazing activity witnessed daily between 17:00 and 19:00 regardless of fresh pasture allocation, suggesting lack of anticipation of fresh feed delivery. In the 12 h treatment primiparous animals exhibited greater grazing and ruminating activity relative to multiparous animals in the 12 h treatment highlighting the impact of competition for resources within each feed on lower dominance animals.

The agriculture sector is responsible for the largest proportion of greenhouse gas emissions in Northern Ireland and mitigation strategies must be introduced if the industry is to achieve the ‘Net Zero’ targets set for 2050 by the United Kingdom government. Dairy farming is a source of nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas with 256 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. One potential mitigation measure is the use of alternative forage species such as Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata). Evidence would suggest that plantain has the ability to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), leading to reductions in overall nitrogenous emissions from grazing dairy systems via three pathways: reducing urinary nitrogen concentration leading to lower rates of nitrogen leaching from urine patches; improving nitrogen utilisation efficiency within the dairy cow so that a lesser proportion of dietary nitrogen is excreted via the urine; and through the action of root exudates producing biological nitrification inhibition in the soil and improving soil nitrogen retention. This review summarises the current evidence supporting plantain as an alternative forage to support animal performance and forage production whilst lowering the environmental footprint of grazing dairy systems in temperate climates. This review also highlights outstanding research questions which must be addressed for farmers to confidently introduce these alternative species into their grazing platforms.

Pasture allocation frequency (PAF) can influence pasture availability and grazing behaviour, which subsequently may impact on animal performance. Limited research to-date has investigated grazing management methods to improve the performance of high production dairy cows whilst also achieving high grass utilisation rates. This study evaluated the effect of three different PAF’s (12, 24 and 36 h) on pasture utilisation, the performance of high yielding dairy cows and the interaction with parity. The experiment included two 60-day periods, 90 spring calving dairy cows (27 primiparous animals) in period one and 87 (24 primiparous animals) in period two. The average pre-grazing sward height (11.4 cm) was similar for all treatments in both periods. In period one, pasture utilisation rate was significantly higher (8%) in the 36 h compared to the 12 h treatment. In period two, milk energy output was significantly greater for primiparous animals in the 36 h treatment relative to the other treatments.