Pregnant cattle associations and links to maternal reciprocity

Swain, D. L.; Patison, Kym P.; Heath, Bryan; Bishop-Hurley, Greg; Finger, Anne

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2015.04.008

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Alien cows are known to direct attention to newborn calves, especially in the hours before they give birth themselves (Edwards, 1983;Illman and Špinka, 1993). This may explain the finding that newly calved beef cows keep a longer distance to pregnant cows than to dams with calves (Finger et al, 2014) and, in general, spend limited time close to other cows (Swain et al, 2015). In the present study, the duration of time alien cows spent contacting calves correlated positively with the duration of time dams spent contacting alien cows.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Secluded maternity areas for parturient dairy cows offer protection from herd members

Jensen

Herskin

Rørvang

2019

Journal of Dairy Science

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Use of individual maternity pens for dairy cows is recommended to ensure undisturbed calving and postpartum transfer of colostrum to calves, but management of these pens is a challenge due to difficulty predicting the time of calving. If group-housed cows, however, have the opportunity to calve in a secluded area of a group pen, this may limit disturbance of the dam and her newborn, especially if this area is fitted with a gate preventing other cows from entering. The aims of this study were to assess effects of cows calving inside a secluded area versus cows calving in the group area on maternal behavior and social interaction between dam and herd members during the first postpartum hour, calf's latency to stand, number of calves suckling an alien cow, and the dam's acute response to separation from the calf. This was investigated in pens consisting of a central group area with access to 6 secluded areas with or without a mechanical push gate allowing only 1 cow access at a time. At least 2 wk before expected calving, 60 Danish Holstein multiparous cows were assigned alternately, in groups of 6, to a group pen with 6 gated secluded areas or a group pen with 6 ungated secluded areas. The effects of treatment (gated, ungated) and calving place chosen within treatment (secluded area, group area) on maternal behavior, interactions with herd members, maternal response to separation, and calf latency to stand were investigated. Irrespective of whether cows calved in a secluded area or not and whether the secluded area was gated or not, cows spent, on average, 39 (±7.9) min of the first hour after calving licking their calves. When calving in a gated secluded area, the cows interacted less with herd members than when calving in the group area (0.5, 28, 18, and 33 min/h for gated/secluded, gated/group, ungated/secluded, and ungated/group areas, respectively), and no calves suckled an alien cow within the first hour after birth. In addition, the longer the calf stayed with the dam, the longer the dam stood with her head out of the pen after removal of the calf. Calf's latency to stand after calving was unaffected by treatment and calving place (mean = 39 min; range = 8-243 min). The results show that dam and calf can be protected from disturbances when cows calve in a secluded maternity area, especially if the secluded maternity area is fitted with a gate preventing other cows form entering.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Secluded maternity areas for parturient dairy cows offer protection from herd members

Jensen

Herskin

Rørvang

2019

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…The secluded areas in the present study may have been situated too close to where the other cows stayed. Among beef cattle kept outdoors, cows increased their distance from other cows on the day of calving (Swain et al, 2015), and most cows calved at some distance from the main herd (Flörcke and Grandin, 2014). In the present study, the space allowance in the open area was 20 m 2 /cow when the maximum 12 cows were in the pen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

The degree of visual cover and location of birth fluids affect dairy cows' choice of calving site

Jensen

Rørvang

2018

Journal of Dairy Science

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Under natural conditions, cows seek isolation and visual cover when calving becomes imminent, but the degree of visual cover necessary to provide an attractive calving site is not known. When calving indoors, preparturient cows are attracted to other cows' birth fluids, and this may influence their isolation seeking. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of degree of visual cover of secluded areas and the location of birth fluids on dairy cows' calving site selection. One hundred twenty-four Danish Holstein cows were moved in groups of 8 to 12 to a group pen with access to 6 areas secluded by a barrier of either 3 m (wide barrier) or 1.5 m (narrow barrier). Sixty cows calved within 14 d of having been moved to the group pen and were included in the study. From 3 h before partition and until the cow and calf were removed from the pen within 3 h after parturition, the location and posture of cows were recorded, along with the location of where their birth fluids were discharged. In addition, location and posture of calves were recorded during and up to 3 h after calving. All data were collected from continuous video recordings. Continuous data for location and behavior were analyzed by mixed models, binary data were analyzed by chi-squared analysis, and location of calving relative to where the cow's own or alien birth fluids were discharged was analyzed using logistic regression models. Ten percent of the cows calved in a secluded area, with no effect of barrier width. However, before calving, cows with access to secluded areas with a wide barrier spent more time in a secluded area (22 vs. 7 min/3 h), and more cows were observed lying there (58 vs. 28%) than cows with access to secluded areas with a narrow barrier. Secluded areas with a wide barrier were used by more cows and calves during the first hour after calving (36 vs. 10%). Among the cows that entered a secluded area after calving, the latency to enter correlated with their calf's latency to enter, suggesting that the 2 sought seclusion together. Seventy-nine percent of the cows calved in proximity (within a 1.25-m radius) to their own or an alien cow's birth fluids. There was no effect of barrier width on the probability of calving in proximity to their own or alien birth fluids. However, the probability of calving in proximity to their own or alien birth fluids was higher than the probability of not doing so. The greater use of secluded areas with a 3-m-wide barrier before and after parturition suggests that these are preferred over areas with a 1.5-m-wide barrier. Only a few cows calved in a secluded area, and more research is needed to explore the environmental and social factors affecting parturient cows' use of designated calving areas. The majority of cows calved close to where their own or alien birth fluids were discharged, suggesting that cows are attracted to these before calving. This may have affected the use of secluded areas as calving sites.

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“…To date, several studies have characterized social networks in cattle, using association networks based on spatial proximity data [ (12,(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)]. Although very valuable, association networks only provide information based on potential contacts or relations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Allogrooming Through a Dynamic Social Network Approach: An Example in a Group of Dairy Cows

et al. 2020

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For gregarious species such as domestic cattle, the social environment is a very important determinant of their welfare and fitness. Understanding the complexity of cows' relationships can assist the development of management practices that are more integrated with the cows' social behavioral processes. The two aims of this study were: (1) to determine the dynamics of affiliative relationships, as indicated by allogrooming, by means of stochastic actor-oriented modeling, in dairy cows during early lactation; (2) to explore the underlying processes and the individual attributes, such as age, social rank and reproductive state, that could shape network pattern changes in grooming contacts between individual. We observed the allogrooming behavior of a dynamic group of 38 dairy cows for 4 h per day for 30 days. Using stochastic actor-oriented models, we modeled the dynamics of weekly contacts and studied how structural processes (e.g., reciprocity, transitivity, or popularity) and individual attributes (i.e., age, social rank, and reproductive state) influence network changes. We found that cows tended to groom individuals that had previously groomed them, implying a possible cooperation. Cows that groomed more actively did not appear to have a preference for specific individuals in the herd, and in return, tended to be groomed by fewer cows over time. Older individuals groomed more cows than younger ones, indicating that allogrooming could be related to seniority. Cows groomed mainly individuals of similar age, suggesting that familiarity and growing up together enhanced social grooming. Over time, cows with higher social rank were groomed by fewer cows and individuals recently reintroduced to the group groomed more herdmates. The study of social network dynamics can be used to better understand the complexity and non-linearity of cow relationships. Our findings, along with further research, can complement and strengthen the design of improved management practices that are more in line with the natural social behavior of cows.

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Pregnant cattle associations and links to maternal reciprocity

Cited by 16 publications

References 27 publications

Secluded maternity areas for parturient dairy cows offer protection from herd members

Secluded maternity areas for parturient dairy cows offer protection from herd members

The degree of visual cover and location of birth fluids affect dairy cows' choice of calving site

Understanding Allogrooming Through a Dynamic Social Network Approach: An Example in a Group of Dairy Cows

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