Cow in Motion: A review of the impact of housing systems on movement opportunity of dairy cows and implications on locomotor activity

Shepley, Elise; Lensink, Joop; Vasseur, E.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105026

Cited by 26 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…The term "exercise" for tied dairy cattle is widely used in the literature. As discussed by Shepley et al (2020), the designation is imprecise, as it often does not adequately address all facets of exercise, including provision of adequate space (and the properties of this space), plus the individual cow's decision to use this space for physical exertion and locomotor activity. Thus, housing type cannot simply be equated with levels of exercise.…”

Section: Effects Of Movement Opportunity For Tied Cattlementioning

confidence: 99%

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Invited review: The welfare of dairy cattle housed in tiestalls compared to less-restrictive housing types: A systematic review

Beaver

Weary

Keyserlingk

2021

Journal of Dairy Science

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Many dairy cattle worldwide are housed in tiestalls, meaning that they are tethered by the neck to individual stalls. On some farms, tied cattle are permitted seasonal access to pasture, but otherwise their movements are restricted compared with cows housed in freestall barns or other loose housing systems. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the scientific literature pertaining the welfare of tied dairy cattle through comparison with less-restrictive housing systems. Articles identified by PubMed and Web of Science underwent a 5-phase screening process, resulting in the inclusion of 102 papers. These papers addressed measures of welfare related to affective state, natural behavior, and health (with the lattermost category subdivided into hoof and leg disorders, lameness, mastitis, transition disease, and other diseases or conditions). Health was the most researched topic (discussed in 86% of articles); only 19% and 14% of studies addressed natural behavior and affective state, respectively. Our review highlights different health benefits for tethered and loose cattle. For example, tied cattle experience reduced prevalence of white line disease and digital dermatitis, whereas loose cattle experience fewer leg lesions and injuries. The prevalence of mastitis, transition diseases, and other conditions did not differ consistently across housing types. We found that the expression of certain natural behaviors, particularly those associated with lying down (e.g., time spent kneeling, unfulfilled intentions to lie down), were impaired in tiestalls. Articles addressing affective state found benefits to loose housing, but these studies focused almost exclusively on (1) physiological measurements and (2) cow comfort, a concept that lacks a consistent operational definition across studies. We call for future research into the af-fective state of tied cattle that extends beyond these explorations and employs more sophisticated methodologies.

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Section: Effects Of Movement Opportunity For Tied Cattlementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, housing type cannot simply be equated with levels of exercise. Shepley et al (2020) propose "movement opportunity" as a more comprehensive term to account for these subtleties.…”

Section: Effects Of Movement Opportunity For Tied Cattlementioning

confidence: 99%

Invited review: The welfare of dairy cattle housed in tiestalls compared to less-restrictive housing types: A systematic review

Beaver

Weary

Keyserlingk

2021

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…The provision of exercise is recommended to improve animal well-being and foot health ( 14 , 15 ), and increase behavioral opportunities [review by ( 16 )]. For tie-stall cows, this implies introducing many stimuli and additional human manipulations that they are not used to.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Providing an Outdoor Exercise Area Affects Tie-Stall Cow Reactivity and Human-Cow Relations

Aigueperse

Vasseur

2021

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Confinement and restriction of movement are a reality for most dairy cows. Providing outdoor access is one method to increase movement opportunities. However, leading cows to an outdoor exercise area increases their exposure to manipulations different from those of an indoor housing system. These situations have the potential to induce fear reactions, which can lead to injuries for the cow and danger or economic losses for the farmer. Our aim was to evaluate the development of the human-cow relationship and general reactivity of cows after a 12-week period of outdoor access provision in winter, summer and fall. A total of 16 cows in the winter, 16 in the summer, and 15 in the fall were enrolled in the study and either allocated to the treatment (Out) or stayed in the tiestall (NonOut). A human reactivity test and suddenness test were performed before and after the 12-week treatment period. In winter and to a lesser extent in fall, Out cows had a better human reaction score compared to NonOut cows, suggesting that cows with outdoor access during the winter associated human approaches with positive events. Conversely, no difference in the human reaction score was found between treatments during the summer. For summer and fall, Out cows did, however, show a decrease in their reaction score to the suddenness test compared to NonOut cows. The results of the human reactivity test in the summer suggested that cows with outdoor access did not associate the manipulation with a positive event. Interestingly, this result is not due to the cows being more frightened, since the suddenness test suggested that the Out cows were less fearful than NonOut cows. The way in which cows were led to the outdoor area could explain the differences in cow responses. Here, summer cows faced greater movement restrictions during trips to the outdoor area than in the winter, which may have been negatively perceived by the cows. We conclude that, besides the provision of outdoor access, the manner in which cows are handled during these events may have significant impacts on their reactions and could facilitate future handling.

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“…The pens in the current study were not designed as exercise areas and, as such, may have lacked the amount of surface area necessary to elicit substantial increases in movement in LP cows compared with other loose-housing systems. However, providing movement opportunity within a housing system does not necessarily provide motivation for the cow to move more (Shepley et al, 2020), and individual cows show considerable differences in their motivation to perform locomotor activity (Alsaaod et al, 2012), which remain consistent across time (Müller and Schrader, 2005). Indeed, independent of treatment, study cows that had higher step activity tended to have greater improvement in the gait variables swinging out (r = 0.43, P = 0.08), tracking up (r = 0.43, P = 0.09), joint flexion (r = 0.45, P = 0.07), and overall gait score (r = 0.42, P = 0.09; Figure 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of housing tiestall dairy cows in deep-bedded pens during an 8-week dry period on gait and step activity

Shepley

Vasseur

2021

JDS Communications

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Cow in Motion: A review of the impact of housing systems on movement opportunity of dairy cows and implications on locomotor activity

Cited by 26 publications

References 60 publications

Invited review: The welfare of dairy cattle housed in tiestalls compared to less-restrictive housing types: A systematic review

Invited review: The welfare of dairy cattle housed in tiestalls compared to less-restrictive housing types: A systematic review

Providing an Outdoor Exercise Area Affects Tie-Stall Cow Reactivity and Human-Cow Relations

The effect of housing tiestall dairy cows in deep-bedded pens during an 8-week dry period on gait and step activity

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