Influence of Lameness on the Lying Behaviour of Zero-Grazed Lactating Jersey Dairy Cattle Housed in Straw Yards

Abstract

Simple SummaryLameness is a concern within the dairy industry. Firstly, it has a negative effect on the animal’s welfare, and secondly, has been found to be costly to producers. Ultimately, it can result in having to cull the cow early. Lameness can change the behaviour of cows who may spend more time lying down to relieve the pain in their feet. In this study, we used activity monitors to automatically record the behaviour of non-lame and lame Jersey cattle. Unlike previous studies involving other breeds, the Jersey cows in this study showed no statistically significant differences in the length of time spent lying or standing in relation to lameness status. Lame cows did have significantly shorter average lying bouts compared to non-lame cows. We also recorded what proportion of the herd were lame. The results (38%) were higher than expected in Jersey cattle but may be related to the fact the cows were housed all year round and therefore were not given access to grass. In conclusion, we saw no evidence of an effect of lameness on lying behaviour in this study. AbstractThirty-five lactating Jersey cows were recruited to the study. They were grouped according to locomotion score (LS), where low scores indicate normal gait. LS-1 (n = 12), LS-2 (n = 12) and LS-3 (n = 11) were used. Locomotion scores were balanced for parity and stage of lactation. Lying behaviour was recorded using IceTag™ data loggers attached to the cows for four consecutive days. The study animals remained in the straw based yards with grooved concrete flooring throughout the duration of the study. All data were normally distributed and assessed using a one-way ANOVA with a post hoc Tukey test. There were no statistically significant differences between locomotion score and the time spent lying, active and standing of zero-grazed lactating Jersey dairy cattle housed on straw yards. Lame cows (LS-3) had significantly shorter lying bouts than sound cows (LS-1) (34 min vs. 42 min, respectively). There has been limited research to date measuring the lying behaviour of cattle on straw and into the Jersey breed. The cows had longer than expected standing times and an increased frequency of lying bouts. This may have been attributed to the stocking density in which the cows were kept. We also reported a prevalence of lameness within the herd of 38%.

Invited review: Lying time and the welfare of dairy cows

“…Among cows with easy and unassisted calving, a marked increase in lying bouts is seen starting 6 h before calving, and during the final 24 h before calving, the time spent lying down is reduced by approximately 1 h (Jensen, 2011;Miedema et al, 2011). This may be due to discomfort during contractions, which also increases markedly dur- Hassall et al, 1993;Singh et al, 1993;Cook et al, 2004;Walker et al, 2008;Chapinal et al, 2010a,b;Ito et al, 2010;Blackie et al, 2011;Calderon and Cook, 2011;Thomsen et al, 2012;Yunta et al, 2012;Navarro et al, 2013;Sepúlveda-Varas et al, 2014;Charlton et al, 2016;Solano et al, 2016;Westin et al, 2016;Weigele et al, 2018;Blackie and Maclaurin, 2019;Thompson et al, 2019) or mastitic cows relative to controls (n = 7 papers; Siivonen et al, 2011b;Zimov et al, 2011;Cyples et al, 2012;Fogsgaard et al, 2012;Medrano-Galarza et al, 2012;Yeiser et al, 2012;Fogsgaard et al, 2015). The dashed vertical line indicates 100%, or that the control and affected animals had the same values.…”

An open-source research tool to study triaxial inertial sensors for monitoring selected behaviors in sheep

“…Main daily activities of ruminants include eating, ruminating, and resting; therefore, these behaviors were the target of our behavioral observation using the sensor data. These behaviors are particularly important because changes in their duration or frequency can be a potential way to monitor welfare and health status of ruminants ( Weary et al, 2009 ; Medrano-Galarza et al, 2012 ; Blackie and Maclaurin, 2019 ). The least-square means for sensor data for the recorded behaviors are shown in Table 1 .…”

Grazing Cow Behavior’s Association with Mild and Moderate Lameness

“…Blackie et al [21] reported differences in lying time between zero-grazing lame and nonlame Holsteins. Subsequently, Blackie and Maclaurin [22] in a similar study did not find similar associations with Jersey cows. Behavior-lameness associations could thus fail to generalize depending on the severity of lameness, grazing/zero-grazing, and breed.…”

“…The severity of lameness and how easily it can be detected using behavior are likely to be associated. Some studies [18,22,37] have investigated a greater range of lameness severity than the present study. The present findings indicate that mild and moderate lameness is difficult to detect, whereas severe lameness detection might be more easily achieved.…”