Why Cows Prefer to Graze at Dusk

Pablo Gregorini from Dairy New Zealand is part of a team working on optimising the amount of milk and meat that dairy cows produce. He explains to Alison Ballance that the quality of grass varies during the day, and that as a result cows get more nutritional value if they feed at dusk rather than at dawn. Understanding interactions such as this between plants, cows and the bugs in their rumen allows farmers to manage their herds to get the greatest returns from a set amount of grass.