A Pilot Study on the Feasibility of an Extended Suckling System for Pasture-Based Dairies

SIMPLE SUMMARY: There is an increased global effort to develop and identify the opportunities and challenges of extended dairy cow-calf suckling systems due to societal concerns about removing calves from cows soon after birth. Implementing a pasture-based system where the dams have half-day contact with their calves and are milked once a day could potentially serve as a viable choice for developing alternative practices in the dairy industry. However, most research on extended suckling systems has been conducted on indoor dairy farms. This paper describes an investigation into the productivity of cows and calves in a pasture-based extended suckling system featuring part-time cow-calf contact and once-a-day milking. Although suckled cows produced less saleable milk than commercially managed cows, their reduced milk yield did not persist after weaning. Dam-reared calves grew faster than commercially reared calves from weeks 3 to 9. The system offers a promising foundation for future large-scale and longitudinal research on the benefits, challenges, and scalability of pastoral cow-calf dairy systems. This approach would be in line with public expectations of enhanced animal welfare in the dairy industry by addressing the concern of removing calves from cows soon after birth. ABSTRACT: This study investigated cow-calf productivity in a 10-week, pasture-based, extended suckling system featuring part-time cow-calf contact and once-a-day milking. A total of 30 dairy cows and their calves were assigned to two treatments: (1) cow and calf managed in an extended suckling system; or (2) cow and calf separated at birth and managed as usual. Cow-calf pairs grazed together during the day and spent the night separated by fence-line contact. The dams were reunited with the calves after once-a-day milking every morning. The commercial treatment pairs were separated after birth, and cows were milked twice a day and managed within the farm herd. Commercial calves were reared and managed as per commercial Australian practices. Cow-calf dams yielded 9 L/cow/day less saleable milk (p < 0.001), and their milk had lower fat (p = 0.04) but a higher protein percentage (p < 0.001) than commercial cows during pre-weaning. However, milk yield and composition were comparable post-weaning. Dam-suckled calves gained weight faster and were therefore weaned 2 weeks earlier than commercial calves, which were offered 8 L/day milk. This study has demonstrated a novel system of extended cow-calf suckling that could be practical to implement in pasture-based dairies. The long-term effects and scalability of the extended suckling system described here require further validation.