{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T21:57:44Z","timestamp":1787176664844,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,5]],"date-time":"2019-12-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1575504000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Austrian Buiatric Association","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Dairy cows need sufficient physically effective fibre (peNDF) in their diet to induce chewing with the latter stimulating salivation and maintaining rumen health. Thus, monitoring of chewing activity can be a non-invasive tool to assess fibre adequacy, and thus helping in the optimization of the diet. The objective of this study was to investigate and compare chewing activities of cows during transition period and in the course of lactation. Simmental dairy cows, in four different production groups such as dry period (from 8 to 6 weeks ante-calving), calving (24 h before and after calving), early-lactation (7\u201360 days in milk), and mid-lactation (60\u2013120 days in milk) were used in the study. Cows were fed partial mixed rations supplemented with different amounts of concentrates. The chewing and drinking activity were recorded using rumination-halters (RumiWatch System, Itin+Hoch GmbH, Liestal, Switzerland). Feed data analysis showed that the peNDF content of the partial mixed ration (PMR) was highest during dry period, decreased around parturition, reaching the nadir in the lactation, in all cases, however, exceeding the peNDF requirements. Chewing data analysis showed that rumination time decreased (p &lt; 0.05) in the time around parturition (from 460 min\/d during dry period to 363 min\/d 24 h before calving) and increased again in early-lactation (505 min\/d), reaching a maximum in mid-lactation (515 min\/d). Eating time was lowest for cows during early-lactation (342 min\/d) and the highest for those in mid-lactation (462 min\/d). Moreover, early-lactation cows spent less time (p &lt; 0.05) drinking (8 min\/d) compared to other groups (e.g., 24 min\/d the day before calving and 20 min\/d postpartum). Monitoring of chewing activity might be a useful tool to assess rumen disorder risks and welfare of the cows during the transition period. It further shows promising results to be used as a tool to identify cows that are shortly before calving.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani9121088","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,5]],"date-time":"2019-12-05T11:16:31Z","timestamp":1575544591000},"page":"1088","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Chewing and Drinking Activity during Transition Period and Lactation in Dairy Cows Fed Partial Mixed Rations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2178-2075","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Viktoria","family":"Brandstetter","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4312-5781","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Viktoria","family":"Neubauer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Institute for Food Safety, Food Technology and Veterinary Public Health\u2014Unit for Food Microbiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"FFoQSI GmbH\u2014Austrian Competence Centre for Feed and Food Quality, Safety &amp; Innovation, 3430 Tulln, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elke","family":"Humer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Iris","family":"Kr\u00f6ger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qendrim","family":"Zebeli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1041","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2011-4421","article-title":"Invited review: Role of physically effective fiber and estimation of dietary fiber adequacy in high-producing dairy cattle","volume":"95","author":"Zebeli","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. 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