Effects of acute lying and sleep deprivation on the behavior of lactating dairy cows

Abstract

The objective was to determine the effects of sleep or lying deprivation on the behavior of dairy cows. Data were collected from 8 multi- and 4 primiparous cows (DIM = 199 ± 44 (mean ± SD); days pregnant = 77 ± 30). Using a crossover design, each cow experienced: 1) sleep deprivation implemented by noise or physical contact when their posture suggested sleep, and 2) lying deprivation imposed by a grid placed on the pen floor. One day before treatment (baseline), and treatment day (treatment) were followed by a 12-d washout period (with the first 7 d used to evaluate recovery). Study days were organized from 2100 to 2059. During habituation (d -3 and -2 before treatment), baseline (d -1), and trt (d 0), housing was individual boxstalls (mattress with no bedding). After treatment, cows returned to sand-bedded freestalls for a 7-d recovery period (d 1 to 7) where data on lying behaviors were collected. Following the recovery period, an additional 5-d period was provided to allow the cows a 12-d period between exposures to treatments. Daily lying time, number lying bouts, bout duration, and number of steps were recorded by dataloggers attached to the hind leg of cows throughout the study period. Data were analyzed using a mixed model including fixed effects of treatment (sleep deprivation vs. sleep and lying deprivation), day, and their interaction with significant main effects separated using a PDIFF statement ( P ≤ 0.05). Interactions between treatment and day were detected for daily lying time and the number of bouts. Lying time was lower for both treatments during the treatment period compared to baseline. Lying time increased during the recovery period for both lying and sleep deprived cows. However, it took 4 d for the lying deprived cows to fully recover their lying time after treatment, whereas it took the sleep deprived cows 2 d for their lying time to return to baseline levels. Results suggest that both sleep and lying deprivation can have impact cow behavior. Management factors that limit freestall access likely reduce lying time and sleep, causing negative welfare implications for dairy cows.

Invited review: Lying time and the welfare of dairy cows

“…However, to date, these methods do generate reliable estimates of REM sleep (Ruckebusch, 1972). In addition, NREM sleep and total time spent sleeping in adult cattle are possible to measure when the animals are not ruminating (Ternman et al, 2012(Ternman et al, , 2014(Ternman et al, , 2018(Ternman et al, , 2019Kull et al, 2019), and the following results are limited by these constraints.…”

“…Adult cattle sleep for considerably less time than they lie down: only 4 h/d, of which less than an hour is REM sleep (Ruckebusch, 1972;Ternman et al, 2018Ternman et al, , 2019. The measurement method affects the amounts of NREM sleep recorded: studies using implanted electrodes reported 3 h of NREM sleep (Ruckebusch, 1972), whereas noninvasive techniques report only around 1 h (Ternman et al, 2018(Ternman et al, , 2019Kull et al, 2019). The sleep cycle of adult dairy cows typically consists of 1 NREM bout lasting 5 ± 3 min and 1 REM bout lasting 3 ± 1 min, followed by the cow waking up (Ternman et al, 2012).…”

“…Rebound effects were observed as a doubled amount of NREM and REM sleep during 4 d after deprivation, compared with beforehand (Ruckebusch, 1974). In more recent work, cows deprived for 24 h of either sleep or lying took between 2 and 4 d to recover their lying time, respectively (Kull et al, 2019). Unfortunately, very little is known about how changes in lying time affect time sleeping or the consequences of reduced sleep for cattle, and this clearly requires further research.…”

Symposium review: The impact of management and facilities on cow culling rates

“…Others have focused on the quality of rest rather than the hours of lying, with a particular focus on sleep. Early sleep studies used invasive brain-implanted electrodes that limited cow movement (Ruckebusch, 1972(Ruckebusch, , 1974, but more recent work has used a noninvasive electroencephalogram with electrodes attached to the skin surface, which allow greater behavioral freedom and more accurate assessments (Ternman et al, 2012(Ternman et al, , 2019Kull et al, 2019). Three categories of sleep have been defined from these studies: (1) rapid eye movement sleep, where the cow is recumbent, unable to lift her head or ruminate, and often lying in the closed position with the head turned back against the flank;…”

“…(2) non-rapid eye movement sleep, where the cow is lying with the head lifted but immobile; and (3) drowsing, which appears to be an intermediate state between non-rapid eye movement sleep and being awake. Although total sleep time accounts for only 3 to 4 h/d of the cow's total time budget, sleep deprivation is a significant component of lying deprivation, which may have an additive and detrimental effect on health and productivity (Kull et al, 2019).…”