555 ACTA UNIVERSITATIS AGRICULTURAE ET SILVICULTURAE MENDELIANAE BRUNENSIS Volume 69 49 Number 5, 2021 USING CHANGES IN EATING AND RUMINATION TIME TO INDICATE THE ONSET OF PARTURITION OR CHANGES IN THE HEALTH STATUS OF DAIRY COWS Radim Codl 1 , Jaromír Ducháček 1 , Jan Pytlík 1 , Mojmír Vacek 1 , Marek Vrhel 1 1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Prague-Suchdol, Czech Republic Link to this article: https://doi.org/10.11118/actaun.2021.049 Received: 14. 6. 2021, Accepted: 26. 8. 2021 To cite this article: CODL RADIM, DUCHÁČEK JAROMÍR, PYTLÍK JAN, VACEK MOJMÍR, VRHEL MAREK. 2021. Using Changes in Eating and Rumination Time to Indicate the Onset of Parturition or Changes in the Health Status of Dairy Cows. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 69(5): 555–561. Abstract Monitoring the time of rumination and eating of dairy cows, by new technologies, is increasingly used in commercial herds. Evaluation of parameters obtained from Vitalimeter 5P, was performed in 656 dairy cows Czech Fleckvieh and Holstein cattle, including their crossbreeds. The aim of the study was evaluation the relationship between the impending calving, the occurrence of the diseases with a change in rumination, and eating time. On the day of birth, the rumination time decreased by 122.9 min. and eating by 11.35 min. compared to the normal state before calving. The decrease in rumination and eating on the day of calving was significantly (P < 0.05) different depending on the lactation order. The decrease in rumination time and eating is also significant (P < 0.01) with the onset of the diseases. In metabolic disorders, the rumination time decreased on the day of detection by 128.95 min./day compared to the 3 rd day before the problem was detected. Following this, the eating time decreased by 72.03min./day. For postpartum diseases, the rumination time changed in day of detection by - 88.75 min./day and the eating time by - 68.67 min. against the normal set 3 days before the disease is detected. The lowest decreases in terms of rumination and eating occurred in the case of mastitis, when the eating time decreased by 36.28 min. and a rumination time by 43.01 min. This balanced decrease in both parameters did not manifest itself in other diseases. Our results show Vitalimetr 5P as a good tool for the detection onset of calving and diseases. Keywords: dairy cattle, rumination, eating, onset of partutition, health INTRODUCTION Enlarge dairy herds and a shortage of workers lead to the need for ever-greater use of automation while ensuring dairy farming. Also, related to reducing the number of attendant's pressure to reduce the cost of milk production (Awasthi et al., 2016). This has reduced human contact with animals and thus reduced the possibility of early detection of changes in health. Therefore, in automatic farms, automatic monitoring systems capable of detecting changes in the health status of dairy cows are needed (Helwatkar et al., 2014). The profitability of dairy farming largely depends on good management of the periparturient period. Therefore, early and accurate detection of the onset of calving is also important. Calving detection is difficult in modern breeding conditions with numerous herds (Benaissa et al., 2020). Visual signs signaling the onset of calving are known, but these signs show variability and their monitoring requires the physical presence of a person. Therefore, there