This trial aimed to characterize the ingestive behavior of Jersey dairy cows during cool and warm seasons, and at 30, 60 and 90 days post-partum. Daily time spent eating, ruminating and idling was estimated through visual observations recorded by a well trained observer. Records were made intermittently, using 10 minutes interval during 24 hours, five days per period, totalizing 30 days of observations. Ingestive behavior was recorded for each individual animal. Daily eating and rumination times were larger at warm season compared to the cool one and at 30 days post-partum compared to 90 days post-partum, being associated with positive effects of temperature, photoperiod and fiber content of silage. Live weight decreased from parturition until 30 days post-partum and recovered by 90 days post-partum. Milk production showed a significant interaction effect among season and period, presenting smaller values at 60 than at 30 or 90 days post-partum, specially at warm season, what might be partially related to changes in the silage chemical composition. It is concluded that dairy cows changed ingestive behavior to adapt themselves to different nutritional, environmental (season effect) and anatomical, physiological conditions (effect of number of days after parturition)
eating; idling; live weight; milk production; rumination
