Gusti® Plus is very effective in attracting cows to the milking robot, according to Adisseo’s Palatability experts: ‘Cows really love this flavour’. Gusti® Plus has been specially developed to provide a particularly attractive taste and aroma for dairy cows. This makes milking with a robot a lot easier.
Gusti® Plus is designed to improve the palatability of dairy feeds and to make them more acceptable to the animal, especially when they are milked by robotic milking machines. Since cows are naturally apprehensive, attractive feed is an important way to tempt them to come to the robot. That is why Gusti® Plus is increasingly popular amongst nutritionists to improve the flavour of their pelleted feeds for these cows. The unique flavouring agent results in more robot visits and a higher feed intake which contributes to the performance of high-yielding dairy cows.
Ruminants are cautious by nature as they are prey animals. To the cow the milking robot is an unknown and potentially dangerous environment that may even evoke a flight response. In practice, this has shown to cause poor utilisation of the robot. So, to maximise the efficiency of the robot system, cows must want to use the machine and feel safe when inside it. Only then is the farmer able to achieve sufficient daily cow visits to the robot system and reach the full potential of his high-yielding dairy herd.
Attractive feed offered in the milking robot could help the cow to overcome this natural fear. How does it work? For the dairy farmer, it is important to turn a robot visit into a positive experience, as far as the benefits perceived by visiting the robot must be greater than the stress caused by the necessary restraint and handling.
Although often a challenge on farm, it is possible to achieve optimum visits for the majority of the dairy cows in the herd. However, to do this the farmer should provide cows with an attractive feed in the milking robot to increase the hedonic value or, in other words, the pleasure of the visit. Feeding starchy, highly palatable ingredients in large amounts however may upset rumen fermentation and is not an option. With the appetite stimulant Gusti® Plus it is possible to provide a greater reward to the cow for using the machine, thereby enhancing the milking robot experience and optimizing cow visits.
Adisseo’s product managers collected data from commercial dairy farms all over the world and found that Gusti® Plus is very effective in attracting cows to the milking robot. A study conducted at 3 dairy farms in Germany, in collaboration with the University of Gottingen, revealed that adding Gusti® Plus to the pelleted feed substantially increased feed consumption in the robot (figure 1.). Experts agree that the key advantage of optimized feed intake in the automatic milking system is the possibility to feed cows more precisely to match their exact nutrient needs on an individual basis. This potentially results in a more profitable production system.
Figure 1: Feed intake in the milking robot expressed as percentage of target consumption.
Gusti® Plus makes pelleted feed much more attractive to cows and stimulates the number of robot visits. This is supported both by practical experience of customers and by data collected from numerous trials on commercial dairy farms. In a recent study at the University of Melbourne Gusti® Plus significantly increased the number of milking robot visits and refusals in early and late lactation cows, see figures 2 &3. A refusal by the robot in this case is a positive factor and occurs when a cow wants to be milked but is refused access by the robot because she has already been milked recently. This study clearly demonstrates that the cows receiving Gusti® Plus in their feed were considerably more motivated to visit the robot. The fact that cows come to the robot voluntarily means that target daily milking frequency is easily achieved without the farmer wasting valuable time directing reluctant cows into the machine.
Figure 2 & 3: Daily cow milking frequency and robot visits without entry (recorded as refusals) for feed without (CON) and with Gusti® Plus (GP).
So, now we know about the benefits of Gusti® Plus, what is the secret behind it? Adisseo’s product managers developed and formulated Gusti® Plus using a complex blend of powerful sensorial components to provide a particularly attractive taste and smell for dairy cows. Most typical flavouring agents used in dairy feeds only consist of ‘top notes’, which are volatile components that provide only am aroma or smell to the feed.. Gusti® Plus however, combines volatile ‘top notes’ with taste active components known as heart and base notes’, see figure 4. Heart notes are important to the function of the product and provide an attractive taste for the animal to stimulate feed intake. In addition to adding flavour Base notes also have the capacity to mask or cover the taste of unpalatable feed ingredients. It is precisely because of this unique combination of flavour functions that Gusti® Plus works so well and the product is so popular among nutritionists around the world.
Figure 4: Gusti® Plus consists not only of volatile ‘top notes’ but also of powerful ‘heart and base notes’.
Feeding management is critical to milking robot system success. From our results it can be concluded that by improving diet palatability Gusti® Plus enhances the milking robot experience for the cow and encourages frequent voluntary milking. This powerful motivation for the cow will optimise the performance of high-yielding dairy cows and the work life balance of the dairy farmer.
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