Do familiar group mates facilitate integration into the milking group after calving in dairy cows?

Gutmann, Anke Kristina; Špinka, Marek; Winckler, Christoph

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105033

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…In this study a recent shared transition period, as indicated by similar DIM, was not sufficient to result in differentiation on this basis. This is in line with the findings of ( 89 ), where recent familiarity with cows had no effect on lying down behaviors of cows transitioning to the herd but early familiarity lead to greater synchrony of lying behaviors. Greater detail of the cohorts of cows kept from birth through to the milking herd, unmeasured in this study, may explain the social differentiation observed.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences

et al. 2020

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Understanding the herd structure of housed dairy cows has the potential to reveal preferential interactions, detect changes in behavior indicative of illness, and optimize farm management regimes. This study investigated the structure and consistency of the proximity interaction network of a permanently housed commercial dairy herd throughout October 2014, using data collected from a wireless local positioning system. Herd-level networks were determined from sustained proximity interactions (pairs of cows continuously within three meters for 60 s or longer), and assessed for social differentiation, temporal stability, and the influence of individual-level characteristics such as lameness, parity, and days in milk. We determined the level of inter-individual variation in proximity interactions across the full barn housing, and for specific functional zones within it (feeding, non-feeding). The observed networks were highly connected and temporally varied, with significant preferential assortment, and inter-individual variation in daily interactions in the non-feeding zone. We found no clear social assortment by lameness, parity, or days in milk. Our study demonstrates the potential benefits of automated tracking technology to monitor the proximity interactions of individual animals within large, commercially relevant groups of livestock.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences

et al. 2020

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“…This is important to address as cattle in both intensive and extensive systems experience constant changes in spatial and social settings as a component of management. Typically, dairy cattle are managed separately within age groups and milking cycles [ 32 ] and can be at differing locations as cows move in and out of herds as they dry off. The frequent changes in herd compositions and location of dairy cattle is an important factor to consider when training them for containment with a virtual fence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should Dairy Cattle Be Trained to a Virtual Fence System as Individuals or in Groups?

Colusso

Clark

Lomax

2020

Animals

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Pre-commercial virtual fence (VF) neckbands (eShepherd®, Agersens, Melbourne, Vic, Australia) can contain cows within a designated area without the need for physical fencing, through associative learning of a paired audio tone and electrical pulse. Cattle are gregarious, so there may be an impact of herd mates on the learning process. To evaluate this, a VF was set 30 m down one of three test paddocks with a feed attractant 70 m past the VF. Twenty-three Holstein-Friesian cows were all fitted with VF neckbands and trained as individuals or in groups (5–6) for four 10 min tests; then, cows were crossed over to the alternate context for two more 10 min tests. The number of cows breaking through the VF and the number of paired stimuli reduced across time (from 82% to 26% and 45% to 14%, respectively, p < 0.01). Cows trained in a group (88%) were more likely to interact with the VF in the crossover compared to those trained as individuals (36%) (p < 0.01), indicating an influence of group members on individual cow response. Individual training is impractical, therefore, future research should evaluate group training protocols ensuring all cows learn the VF to avoid any adverse impacts on animal welfare.

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“…In contrast, the multiparous control cows did not experience as substantial a decrease in rumination time, lying time, and milk yield after regrouping as compared with their baseline. This is not entirely surprising, given that primiparous cows have been reported to have less competitive success at the feed bunk than multiparous cows ( 47 ), to have greater fecal cortisol when regrouped individually than multiparous cows regrouped individually ( 10 ), and cope less well with postpartum regrouping than multiparous cows ( 11 ). Thus, these studies indicate that primiparous cows are more susceptible to social stress than multiparous cows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As noted by Mazer et al ( 10 ), fecal cortisol metabolites may be used as a physiological measure of stress. Further, those researchers reported that greater fecal cortisol metabolite concentration in primiparous cows than multiparous cows when introduced to a new group individually, suggesting that primiparous cows may be more sensitive to the negative effects of regrouping as compared with multiparous cows ( 10 , 11 ). Multiparous cows may be more experienced and familiar with the social stress associated with regrouping events and, thus, experience fewer negative effects after regrouping as compared to primiparous cows who would be more naïve to such events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of a Dietary Citrus Extract on the Behavior and Production of Lactating Dairy Cows Following Regrouping: A Preliminary Study

et al. 2022

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Exposure of lab animals, humans, and pigs to olfactory sensory feed additives may reduce response to stress and anxiety. The objective of this preliminary study was to determine if feeding a citrus-based olfactory sensory functional feed extract (derived from Citrus sinensis) reduces the negative impact of regrouping of lactating dairy cows. Thirty-two (parity = 2.0 ± 1.2; mean ± SD), mid-lactation Holstein dairy cows (169.8 ± 16.8 DIM) were enrolled as focal cows in this study and housed individually in a tie-stall facility where they were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatment diets: (1) control total mixed ration (TMR) (control; n = 16; primiparous = 7; multiparous = 9), or (2) control TMR with 4 g/d of citrus extract (CE) (Phodé, Terssac, France) (CE; n = 16; primiparous = 7; multiparous = 9). Cows were fed their experimental diets for 7 d in the tie-stall facility (baseline), then moved to 1 of 2 experimental free-stall pens (containing 29 other cows) for a period of 7 d, where they remained on the same treatment diet as before. Compared with their baseline, primiparous control cows had decreased rumination time on d 1 and 2, had decreased lying time on d 1, and tended to have decreased lying time on d 2 and 3 following regrouping. In contrast, primiparous cows fed the CE diet did not experience a change in rumination and lying time. Primiparous CE cows had greater feeding time on d 1 and tended to have greater feeding time on d 2 after regrouping compared to primiparous control cows. Primiparous control cows had greater idle standing time, as compared to the CE cows, across the 7 d after regrouping. Primiparous CE cows initiated less total competitive behavior after regrouping, but were also displaced more frequently from the feed bunk and from the free stalls on d 1 after regrouping, as compared to the primiparous control cows. For multiparous cows, CE supplementation was not consistently associated with any benefits to behavior or production after regrouping, possibly because these cows were more experienced with social stressors. Results indicate that feeding CE to mid-lactation naïve primiparous dairy cows may reduce the initiation of competitive interactions and lessen the reduction in rumination and lying time after regrouping. These results need to be verified in further studies where potential confounding effects (e.g., pen social dynamics, pen location) are minimized.

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Do familiar group mates facilitate integration into the milking group after calving in dairy cows?

Cited by 7 publications

References 61 publications

Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences

Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences

Should Dairy Cattle Be Trained to a Virtual Fence System as Individuals or in Groups?

Impact of a Dietary Citrus Extract on the Behavior and Production of Lactating Dairy Cows Following Regrouping: A Preliminary Study

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