Behavior and milk production of buffalo cows as affected by housing system

Abstract

To verify the effect of 2 housing systems (with and without a pool and an ample outdoor lot) on behavior and milk yield, 45 lactating buffalo cows were group-housed in a free stall open-sided barn with concrete floor where they received 10 m(2)/head as space allowance (group NP); 43 cows were group-housed in a similar barn, but had access to an outdoor yard (36 m(2)/head) and a concrete pool of 208 m(2) (group WP). Animals were subjected to 8 sessions of instantaneous scan sampling at approximately 10-d intervals. Behavioral variables were expressed as proportions of subjects observed in each category of posture and activity. In addition, rapid behaviors such as agonistic, social, and reproductive interactions, social licking, and self-grooming were recorded continuously. These variables were expressed as number of interactions per animal. At the end of each hour of observation, temperature and relative humidity were recorded. In WP the proportion of animals observed wallowing was 0.476 +/- 0.034, whereas lower proportions were observed standing (0.389 +/- 0.029) or lying (0.141 +/- 0.021) outside the pool. In NP the proportions of animals observed standing and lying were 0.452 +/- 0.042 and 0.548 +/- 0.042, respectively. A significant relationship between mean temperatures recorded on observation days and proportion of animals in the pool was observed (r(s) = 0.41). Fewer animals from group WP were observed idling compared with buffaloes from group NP (0.44 +/- 0.024 vs. 0.509 +/- 0.024, respectively), whereas more WP animals were involved in investigative activities than NP cows (0.099 +/- 0.009 vs. 0.042 +/- 0.009, respectively). A greater number of social interactions (sniffing and nuzzling) and social lickings were observed in group WP than in group NP (0.120 +/- 0.010 vs. 0.067 +/- 0.010, and 0.151 +/- 0.018 vs. 0.090 +/- 0.018, respectively). The WP buffalo cows had a greater milk yield than NP cows (11.73 +/- 0.31 vs. 10.78 +/- 0.28 kg/d, respectively), whereas no differences between groups were observed for protein (4.86 +/- 0.04 vs. 4.80 +/- 0.03% for WP and NP, respectively) and fat contents (8.49 +/- 0.14 vs. 8.38 +/- 0.13% for WP and NP, respectively). We conclude that the provision of a pool and an ample outdoor paddock can have beneficial effects on welfare and milk production of buffaloes.

Effect of group size and maize silage dietary levels on behaviour, health, carcass and meat quality of Mediterranean buffaloes

“…The following behavioural categories were recorded: posture (standing or, when lying, number of outstretched legs), location (outdoor or indoor) and activity such as feeding (selection, prehension and mastication), drinking, ruminating, locomotion (walking with elevated neck or parallel to the ground looking in front or around), exploration (walking slowly with or without the neck lowered, often interrupted by stopping and sniffing the ground or the housing equipment), vigilance (standing still with elevated neck, intently oriented head and ears), idling (standing or lying, opened or closed eyes, but no other overt activity). Due to difficulty in recognising individual animals, behavioural variables were expressed as the proportion of subjects observed in each category of posture, location and activity (Tripaldi et al, 2004;De Rosa et al, 2009) calculated as: number of animals displaying each posture, location and activity/total number of animals per group. Since observations were performed at group level, in group HH all 14 animals were used.…”

“…Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) farming is a traditional activity that has been established in specific central and southern areas of Italy where it plays a major role in agriculture economy (De Rosa et al, 2009). Buffalo milk is almost entirely used to produce mozzarella cheese, one of the most typical products of southern Italy.…”

The behaviour and welfare of buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) in modern dairy enterprises

“…In summer, in fact, the proportion of time spent in the mud by heifers is twice that in other seasons , with almost 50% of adult lactating buffaloes being observed to lie in the mud when given the opportunity (De Rosa et al, 2009a). When access to water for wallowing is restricted during the hot seasons, heat can only insufficiently be dissipated and milk production is reduced (De Rosa et al, 2009a) and fertility is adversely affected (Di Palo et al, 2001), as indicated by the higher number of days open and percentage of non-pregnant cows.…”

“…Natural pasture conditions may facilitate the expression of self-grooming (De Rosa et al, 2009a). In addition, bathing Schultz et al (1977) Buffalo cows Bud et al (1985) Buffalo heifers Napolitano et al (2007) Podolian cows Braghieri et al (2011) Grazing ( and wallowing in the pool can induce a higher proportion of buffaloes in performing integumentary care, as self-grooming is often associated with body muddiness (Sato et al, 1991).…”

“…Such changes have negatively affected several aspects of buffalo behaviour and welfare (De Rosa et al, 2009a).…”