反刍动物营养学家根据反刍动物在特定生产水平上的营养需要，制定均衡的日粮。假设是母牛会吃他们提供的所有东西。然而，牛可以选择它们自己的饲料，因为它们用舌头和嘴唇把饲料放在一起。由于奶牛的混合日粮（TMR）通常很随意，因此对它的分类研究最多，这使奶牛挑可以选他们喜欢的饲料颗粒，并且仍然能达到它们想要的总干物质(DM)。TMR报告显示，最可能的分选是有利于短颗粒（主要是精料），而不利于长颗粒（牧草）。因此，母牛的饲喂行为会调节其进食的饲料量、获得的营养、瘤胃健康以及最终的产奶量。
已经使用几种方法来尝试减少奶牛的饲料分类。最近，有报道称，长日光周期可以降低饲料对长颗粒的分选。今天，开颜提供了先进的LED灯设备，可用于商业用途。LED的波长可以调整到所需的输出。
奶牛舍中的蓝色和红色波长引起了人们的兴趣。奶牛的眼睛对红光不敏感，因此，当人们需要在白天光线不强时与奶牛一起工作，建议将红光作为照明的一种选择。在人类中，已知蓝光在关灯后会引起活动增加的携带效应。如果奶牛对蓝光有类似的反应，那么在午后或傍晚在奶牛舍内加入蓝光以刺激夜间活动可能是有趣的。这对自动挤奶系统特别有意义，因为它们需要奶牛昼夜活动。市场上已经有针对奶牛舍的解决方案，其中包括在一天中的某些时段使用更多的红色或蓝色LED灯，因为我们现在有白光LED灯的灯具。
鼓励DMI促进产奶是奶牛养殖户的主要目标之一。每天的进食时间、选择、每天的进食次数、持续时间、每天的进食次数是饲养行为的重要方面。
环境、牛的年龄、牙齿状况、饲料成分和加工工艺都会影响牛的进食行为。就像放牧牛一样，群居牛的行为是同步的，包括在室内饲养时的进食行为。奶牛的进食行为受社会交往、管理措施、环境和健康状况的控制。很久以前，奶牛被认为是蠕动式进食，受日出和日落时间的驱使去吃草。然而，研究报道，新鲜饲料的供给时间对室内饲养的奶牛采食行为的影响比一天中的时间更大。同时，研究还发现，群养奶牛在饲料投递频率增加后，日采食时间分布也发生了变化。新鲜饲料投喂后的前一个半小时是奶牛进食活动的高峰期。当饲料推送时，槽内还有一些饲料时，对奶牛行为影响不大。饲料槽的设计也会影响采食行为，因为奶牛更喜欢从饲料槽中进食，使其头部处于自然放牧的位置，而不是让其头抬高。
奶制品厂常用的光源是荧光灯和金属卤化物灯。在过去的几年里，LED灯也已经可以用于动物房舍。这并不是一项新技术，自20世纪80年代中期以来，LED灯已被用于植物生长研究，但成本很高；因此只限于研究。然而，19海兹定律，如Steigerwald等人所预测的，已经开始行动，每十年它们的成本将减少10，而它们的性能却进步了20倍。现在，它们已成为价格可承受的高级白光LED灯，从而增加了其在商业动物舍中的潜在用途
可以调节LED灯的光强度和光谱组成，使其模仿自然日出和日落时的亮度，从而可以控制颜色组合，例如绿色，蓝色和红色。LED灯的寿命比荧光灯长，约为10万h，而荧光灯的寿命为8000h。此外，LED热输出低，节约能源，不含汞，光电转换效率高，且易于接触到数字控制系统，使光周期管理变得容易，例如在奶牛舍。由于其寿命长，不需要定期更换，可以降低生产成本，同时由于大多数牛舍的天花板很高，因此削减了人工成本和更换灯的高风险工作任务。白光LED发出的波长能提高奶牛的检测能力，其发射峰值在460nm和550左右。
In one study, ten multiparous pregnant Swedish Red cows in post-peak lactation were used. Cows were housed in a tie-stall barn. They were subjected to a 33-day red or blue LED light treatment during a long day photoperiod with 16 hours day and 8 hours night. Cows were fed silage and concentrate separately. Silage was fed three times a day, ensuring ad libitum intake with 5–10% orts. The concentrate was fed four times per day. Samples of silage were collected thrice a day, and individual orts were collected at the end of the day and the night. Data for eating behavior and milk yield were collected five days before and five days after the treatment period. Eating behavior was determined using the difference in the distribution of fractions of different straw lengths in the silage fed and orts during daytime and night time. A 2-screen Penn State Particle Separator (PSPS) (19mm and 8mm) with a solid bottom pan was used to determine the distribution of large, medium, and short silage fractions. Treatments did not affect total DMI. Overall, cows sorted for the large fractions against the medium and short fractions. During the LED period, there was a difference (P<0.001) in sorting between Red and Blue cows during the daytime. Cows on the Red LED light are sorted for the short fractions during the daytime. Blue cows showed different sorting (P<0.05) during day and night. Their sorting for the large fractions was more pronounced during daytime than night. Milk yield did not change during the trial and did not differ between the Red and Blue groups. In conclusion, sorting activity was greater during the daytime in the LED period, which could have been influenced by the LED light. Interestingly cows seem to have better vision in red than blue LED light. Furthermore, it also possible that the LED light maintains milk yield since no change was observed during the four-week trial in post-peak lactation.
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