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Twenty-four Czech dairy farms were visited to record lameness prevalence and to identify factors associated with high lameness prevalence at the farm level and/or increased lameness risk at the level of individual cows. All cows were checked for lameness and forty cows per farm were examined for overgrown claws, body dirtiness and skin lesions. The farm environment was scored between 1 (excellent) to 5 (very poor) in three different aspects: floor slipperiness, cow care quality, and housing quality. Data on hoof trimming schedules were obtained from farm managers. Lameness prevalence on farms was in a wide range from 6% to 42% (median 22%). At the farm level, floor slipperiness and poor animal care were associated with high lameness prevalence (Spearman correlations, P < 0.05), and the proportion of cows with overgrown claws tended to be associated with it (P < 0.10). The reported time schedules of hoof trimming (continuous trimming applied or not; and time elapsed since the whole herd was trimmed) were unrelated to either the prevalence of overgrown claws or the prevalence of lameness. Within farms, cows with overgrown claws and dirty cows were at an increased risk of being lame (multiple logistic regression, P < 0.05) and cows with skin lesions tended to be more lame (P < 0.10). The risk of lameness had an inverted U-shape dependence on age (P < 0.05), with cows at 7-8 years of age being the most endangered by lameness. We conclude that there is a large potential for lameness reduction on some Czech dairy farms through improving the cow care and reducing floor slipperiness, and that within farms, cows with overgrown claws and also dirty cows and cows with skin lesions should be given special attention since they are more likely to get lame.

No abstract

Fighting between males is a frequent component of the rutting behavior of Cervidae. Frequent conflicts are exhausting; fighting may be risky and can lead to serious injuries or even death. We focused on the process of assessment of the opponent's fighting ability and escalation of the combat, estimating the probability of fighting based on the encounter components such as groaning and parallel walk. In this study, we observed the agonistic behavior of fallow deer bucks (Dama dama) during the rut over four seasons. During this time, we recorded 205 encounters between bucks. Non-contact display, which allows contestants to assess their opponents fighting ability, occurred in 83% of the encounters. The highest predicted probability of a fight was found when both of the males vocalized and turned into the parallel walk. The chance of a clear outcome decreased when the males were fighting in comparison to when they did not fight. The initiator of the competitive encounter won 41% of the cases, while the attacked buck won 23% of the encounters. If the contestants avoided fighting, however, the initiator won 78% of encounters. Therefore, the initiator was more successful when no fight occurred compared to when the encounters escalated into fighting. In most cases where ritualized behavior occurred, one of the opponents left after vocalization or parallel walk occurred. Thus, vocalization and parallel walk increased the probability for a clear outcome. The probability of a fight was lowest in situations where the males displayed asymmetric behavior. Increased symmetry of the contestants' behavior was strongly correlated with a higher probability of a fight. Thus, these results indicate that fallow deer bucks use efficient tactic during the rut, which, in turn, minimizes the chance of injury while fighting during the breeding season. Aggr. Behav. 33:7-13, 2007. r