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Data Collection
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Perez-Marquez, Simon, De-Meo-Filho, Paulo, Le-Grice, Phil, Griffith, Bruce, Harris, Paul, Cardenas, Laura, Lee, Michael, Misselbrook, Tom, Rivero, M. Jordana
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Darch, Tegan
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beef cattle; cattle sheds; animal feeding; animal behaviour
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The North Wyke Farm Platform- National Capability [2023-28], S2N - Soil to Nutrition - Work package 2 (WP2) - Adaptive management systems for improved efficiency and nutritional quality, The North Wyke Farm Platform- National Capability [2017-22], The North Wyke Farm Platform [2012-2017], Growing Health [ISP]
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15 April 2024
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27 October 2016 2 September 2023 |
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N50.77642 E-3.92384
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The data span the years 2016 to 2023. The cattle breed from which this data were collected was initially Hereford x Friesian crosses, and from 2017 was increasingly comprised of Stabilisers, a blend of British and Contiental breeds such as Hereford, Red Angus, Simmental and Gelbvieh. Further information about the livestock can be found in https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y50. Additional data about the cattle, including date of birth, breed, weights and sales data, may be found at http://resources.rothamsted.ac.uk/farmplatform and matched to this dataset using the column Offical Tag.
The cattle, and the barns in which they are housed for some or all of the year, are on the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP). A full description of the NWFP and the farming systems can be found in https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y1x. Briefly, from September 2015 until April 2019, the NWFP was comprised of three individual outdoor systems, or ‘farmlets’. The red farmlet was sown with high sugar grasses (perennial ryegrass, Lolium perenne cv. AberMagic), the blue farmlet was sown with high sugar grass (Lolium perenne cv. AberMagic) and white clover (Trifolium repens cv. AberHerald), and the green farmlet remained as the permanent pasture that had already been present for many years. From April 2019, the red farmlet transitioned to an arable system. A fourth system, the brown farmlet, was created at this time, where cattle are reared indoors from weaning to slaughter. The cohort of cattle and grazing each of these farmlets remain separate from one another, and therefore there are separate barns for the over-wintering of cattle (or year-round in the case of the brown treatment) from each farmlet. Animals are fed predominantly on silage grown on their respective farmlet, or bought-in in the case of the brown farmlet. The GreenFeed units in this dataset (see Unit ID column of data) correspond to different farmlets. The feeder with unit ID 96 was in the green farmlet shed, 97 in the red or brown farmlet shed (depending on which treatment had livestock at the time), and 98 in the blue farmlet shed. The GreenFeed units were first deployed in 2016, and this dataset provides data up to September 2023. The data exist only during the housing period, typically from October to April in the blue, green and red farmlets, while the brown farmlet has data from around October until late summer or early autumn. The GreenFeed units (full details at https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y53) encourage cattle to visit by releasing pelleted feed (~30 g), but the number of times the unit dispenses feed to an individual animal is capped (dataset column = MaxDrop). Each animal can have up a number of feeding periods per day with a specified minimum interval between feeding periods (dataset column = PeriodDelay). Each animal triggers the start of its feeding period by inserting its head into the GreenFeed unit, where it is identified by its ear tag. Consequently, animals will differ in the start and end times of their feeding periods, with the potential for some animals to have fewer feeding periods in a day than the maximum, or to be starting their first feeding period while others are already on a second or subsequent feeding period. The feeding period is represented in the data by the column CurrentPeriod.
If cattle remain in the GreenFeed unit there is an interval between the dispensing of feed drops (dataset column = DropDelay), during which time the greenhouse gas measurements (not given in this dataset) are made. If cattle leave the GreenFeed unit before reaching a number of feed drops equal to MaxDrop, they may return at another time (or multiple times) in the same feeding period to receive the remaining feed. The column CurrentCup in the data files indicates the visit number within the current feeding period, and the FeedTime shows the date and time of the feed being dispensed. If animals return to the GreenFeed after the MaxDrop is reached within the CurrentPeriod, no more feed is dispensed and no record of their visit is made in the dataset.
In the years 2019-2023, the values of MaxDrop, DropDelay and PeriodDelay are 5, 35 seconds and 17280 seconds respectively. In the other years, there is some variation in these values, within and between years.
Please see the related information for documentation about the farm platform, livestock, and the GreenFeed units, plus links to related data. Related data are free to access on a CC-BY-4.0 licence but require registration.
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Rothamsted Research
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10.23637/rothamsted.98zz6
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, Le-Grice, Phil, Griffith, Bruce, Harris, Paul