Influence of social dominance on the secondary sex ratio and factors affecting hierarchy in Holstein dairy cows

Hohenbrink, Sarah; Meinecke-Tillmann, S.

doi:10.3168/jds.2011-5281

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…The mediating effect of maternal condition on birth-sex ratio has been inconsistent [83] as has been the directionality of birth sex-ratio bias. Better-condition cows may produce more sons [84] or daughters [85]. Integrating the results presented here, dairy cows produce more sons, but seemingly favor daughters with more milk.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Holsteins Favor Heifers, Not Bulls: Biased Milk Production Programmed during Pregnancy as a Function of Fetal Sex

et al. 2014

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Mammalian females pay high energetic costs for reproduction, the greatest of which is imposed by lactation. The synthesis of milk requires, in part, the mobilization of bodily reserves to nourish developing young. Numerous hypotheses have been advanced to predict how mothers will differentially invest in sons and daughters, however few studies have addressed sex-biased milk synthesis. Here we leverage the dairy cow model to investigate such phenomena. Using 2.39 million lactation records from 1.49 million dairy cows, we demonstrate that the sex of the fetus influences the capacity of the mammary gland to synthesize milk during lactation. Cows favor daughters, producing significantly more milk for daughters than for sons across lactation. Using a sub-sample of this dataset (N = 113,750 subjects) we further demonstrate that the effects of fetal sex interact dynamically across parities, whereby the sex of the fetus being gestated can enhance or diminish the production of milk during an established lactation. Moreover the sex of the fetus gestated on the first parity has persistent consequences for milk synthesis on the subsequent parity. Specifically, gestation of a daughter on the first parity increases milk production by ∼445 kg over the first two lactations. Our results identify a dramatic and sustained programming of mammary function by offspring in utero. Nutritional and endocrine conditions in utero are known to have pronounced and long-term effects on progeny, but the ways in which the progeny has sustained physiological effects on the dam have received little attention to date.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Holsteins Favor Heifers, Not Bulls: Biased Milk Production Programmed during Pregnancy as a Function of Fetal Sex

et al. 2014

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“…Simulations of waiting time show that low-ranking cows may be waiting about 1 h on a typical day and up to 7 h in crowded situations (i.e., where all cows have to pass through the robot to access pasture; Halachmi, 2009). In this study we did not evaluate the social rank of the cows, but an association between low body mass and low social rank has been observed previously (Hohenbrink and Meinecke-Tillmann, 2012;Landaeta-Hernández et al, 2013). A third plausible explanation is that the thin cows in the study had higher milk yields and therefore spent more time standing eating, compared with cows producing less milk with possibly higher BCS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Lying times of lactating cows on dairy farms with automatic milking systems and the relation to lameness, leg lesions, and body condition score

Westin

Vaughan

Passillé

et al. 2016

Journal of Dairy Science

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Lying down and resting are important for optimal cow health, welfare, and production. In comparison with free stall farms with a milking parlor, farms with automated milking systems (AMS) may place less constraint on how long cows can lie down. However, few studies report lying times on AMS farms. The aims of this study were to describe the variation in lying times of dairy cows in AMS farms and to understand how much of the variation in individual lying times is related to cow-level factors, including lameness, the presence of hock and knee lesions, and body condition score (BCS). We visited 36 farms in Canada (Quebec: n = 10; Ontario: n = 10; British Columbia: n = 4; and Alberta: n = 5), and the United States (Michigan: n = 7). Gait scores, presence of hock and knee lesions, and BCS were recorded for 40 Holstein cows from each herd. Parity and days in milk were retrieved from farm records. Lying time was recorded across 4d using accelerometers (n = 1,377). Multivariable analysis was performed. Of scored cows, 15.1% were lame (i.e., obviously limping; 203 of 1,348 cows). Knee lesions were found in 27.1% (340 of 1,256 cows) and hock lesions were found in 30.8% (421 of 1,366 cows) of the animals. Daily lying time varied among cows. Cows spent a median duration of 11.4 h/d lying down (25th-75th percentile = 9.7-12.9 h), with a lying bout frequency of 9.5 bouts/d (25th-75th percentile = 7.5-12 bouts/d) and a median bout duration of 71 min (25th-75th percentile = 58-87 min/bout). Lameness was associated with cows lying down for 0.6 h/d longer in fewer, longer bouts. Increased lying time was also associated with increased parity, later stage of lactation and higher BCS. Older cows (parity ≥ 3) spent about 0.5 h/d more lying down compared with parity 1 cows, and cows with BCS ≥ 3.5 lay down on average 1 h/d longer than cows with BCS ≤ 2.25. Hock lesions were associated with shorter lying times in univariable models, but no associations were found in the multivariable models. We concluded that only a small proportion of the variation between cows in lying time is explained by lameness, leg lesions, and BCS.

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“…More recently, however, it has been established that more complex nonlinear relationships may occur, which is believed to be the case among dairy cattle. Although it is generally accepted that social rank is dependent on size, BCS (Hohenbrink and Meinecke-Tillmann, 2012), and age, smaller and younger animals within a group may also be dominant.…”

Section: Association Among Social Rank Health and Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Social stressors and their effects on immunity and health of periparturient dairy cows

Chebel

Silva

Endres

et al. 2016

Journal of Dairy Science

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Management practices during the periparturient period have been the focus of much research recently because during this period immune function, metabolism, and health of cows are severely challenged. Responses to stress are often classified as behavioral, immunological, neuroendocrine, and autonomic. In production systems, understanding all facets of stress response is important to correctly predict the consequences of stressors to the health and performance of animals and to prevent costly managerial changes that have minimal effect on animal well-being and performance. Common social stressors faced by periparturient animals are regrouping, overstocking, and for nulliparous animals, commingling with parous animals. In conventional dairies, feeding strategies during the periparturient period often require several group changes during the most challenging period of an animal's life. Traditional weekly regrouping of prepartum cows increases competitive behavior at the feed bunk but it does not affect immune and metabolic responses, health and production, as long as stocking density is not overwhelming, and nulliparous and parous animals are housed separately. Stocking density of prepartum animals may be overlooked because these are nonproductive animals. Severe overstocking (200% of feeding space) of commingled nulliparous and parous pregnant animals produces neuroendocrine and metabolic changes. On the other hand, when prepartum nulliparous and parous animals are housed separately, stocking densities of up to 120% do not seem to affect innate and adaptive immunity, metabolic responses, milk yield, and reproductive performance, despite increasing negative behavior among cows. In recent experiments, when animals were ranked based on feed bunk displacement, dominant animals were more likely to be diagnosed with metritis than subordinate animals. Importantly, dominant animals with large number of interactions with pen mates (displacement at the feed bunk) were considerably more likely to be diagnosed with uterine diseases (retained placenta and metritis) and to be removed from the herd within 60d postpartum. Much has been learned about behavioral responses of cows to stressful conditions, but our understanding of neuroendocrine and immune responses to such conditions is somewhat limited. A multidisciplinary approach to research that encompasses several responses to stress and biological functions is critical.

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Influence of social dominance on the secondary sex ratio and factors affecting hierarchy in Holstein dairy cows

Cited by 17 publications

References 45 publications

Holsteins Favor Heifers, Not Bulls: Biased Milk Production Programmed during Pregnancy as a Function of Fetal Sex

Holsteins Favor Heifers, Not Bulls: Biased Milk Production Programmed during Pregnancy as a Function of Fetal Sex

Lying times of lactating cows on dairy farms with automatic milking systems and the relation to lameness, leg lesions, and body condition score

Social stressors and their effects on immunity and health of periparturient dairy cows

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