Vic cows moove into cow mootel

A new cow motel has been set up by scientists in Victoria to study the effect of a range of climatic and nutritional regimes on dairy cows.

A herd of Victorian cows should be udderly over the moon when they check-in to a new, highly scientific "cow mootel".

The mootel rooms, which are known as climate-controlled calorimeters, are being used to measure heat tolerance and ways to reduce methane production in cattle.

The technology in the rooms, at the National Centre for Dairy Research, will allow every aspect of a dairy cow's metabolism to be monitored 24 hours a day.

"This state-of-the-art technology will help our scientists to develop technologies and options for Victoria's dairy farmers to maintain productivity in a changing and variable climate," Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford said on Wednesday.

The rooms allow scientists to study dairy cattle physiology and performance under a range of climatic conditions and nutritional regimes.

But the bovine guests won't have any privacy, with large windows between each room allowing a full view of the neighbours.

Research will be carried out on the site's herd of 500 dairy cows and recent projects have included measuring the effect of various feed types on methane emissions.


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Source: AAP


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