Do Bells Affect Behaviour and Heart Rate Variability in Grazing Dairy Cows?

Abstract

In alpine regions cows are often equipped with bells. The present study investigated the impact of wearing a bell on behaviour and heart rate variability in dairy cows. Nineteen non-lactating Brown-Swiss cows with bell experience were assigned to three different treatments. For 3 days each, cows were equipped with no bell (control), with a bell with inactivated clapper (silent bell) or with a functional bell (functional bell). The bells weighed 5.5 kg and had frequencies between 532 Hz and 2.8 kHz and amplitudes between 90 and 113 dB at a distance of 20 cm. Data were collected on either the first and third or on all 3 days of each treatment. Whereas duration of rumination was reduced with a functional bell and a silent bell compared with no bell, feeding duration was reduced with a silent bell and was intermediate with a functional bell. Head movements were reduced when wearing a silent bell compared with no bell and tended to be reduced when wearing a functional compared to no bell. With a functional bell, lying duration was reduced by almost 4 hours on the third day of treatment compared with the first day with a functional bell and compared with no bell or a silent bell. All additional behavioural measures are consistent with the hypothesis of a restriction in the behaviour of the cows wearing bells, although this pattern did not reach significance. There was no treatment effect on heart rate variability, suggesting that the bells did not affect vago-sympathetic balance. An effect of experimental day was found for only 1 out of 10 behavioural parameters, as shown by a decrease in lying with a functional bell on day 3. The results indicate behavioural changes in the cows wearing a bell over 3 days, without indication of habituation to the bell. Altogether, the behavioural changes suggest that the behaviour of the cows was disturbed by wearing a bell. If long-lasting, these effects may have implications for animal welfare.

The Equipment Used in the SF6 Technique to Estimate Methane Emissions Has No Major Effect on Dairy Cow Behavior

“…Nevertheless, as soon as they were familiar with the new condition they were submitted to, they were able to execute their basic activities normally. Contrary to the effect presented here and with the results of Enriquez-Hidalgo et al ( 26), Johns et al (30) reported that cows did not habituate to the use of bells, even though they had previous experience to bells, since lying time and lying bout duration were decreasing even more after some days. These contrary results highlight the fact that cows are able to adapt to something unknown as long as it is not stressful to them.…”

Space Allowance of the Littered Area Affects Lying Behavior in Group-Housed Horses

“…By contrast, standing and locomotion result in varying acceleration values ( 45 ). The accelerometer has previously been used to record lying behavior in cows ( 46 – 48 ) and goats ( 49 ). Additionally, the reliability of our data was validated by comparing the indicated lying bouts of three randomly chosen horses during the first 24 h of data collection with continuously recorded video footage.…”

Regular Exposure to Cowbells Affects the Behavioral Reactivity to a Noise Stimulus in Dairy Cows

“…The amplitudes of cowbells that are traditionally used on Alpine pastures vary between 90 and 113 dB ( 1 ). However, we did not measure the amplitudes of the bells that the experienced cows were wearing during pasture season.…”

“…In alpine regions, cows are often equipped with a bell throughout the summer season to ensure that farmers can locate their animals on the wide alpine pastures, many areas that are obstructed from view. The chime of these cowbells is characterized by high and varying amplitudes from 90 to 113 dB at a distance of 20 cm, the approximated distance between the bell and the cows’ ears ( 1 ). Goats have been found to show higher behavioral arousal when being exposed to the playback of a bell compared to the playback of a uniform sinusoidal sound, indicating that the bell sound might be more aversive to goats than the uniform sound.…”

“…Although some studies on the general hearing capacity of cows are available, to our knowledge, no studies exist on hearing capacities of cows that have been exposed to noise in general. Bells seem to be a relevant noise factor for cows considering that cows are exposed routinely and for a longer period of time to the chime of bells ( 1 ). The aim of this study is to test whether routine bell exposure affects the reactivity to a noise stimulus and be associated with hearing impairment in cows.…”