Provision of shelter during the prepartum period: Effects on behavior, blood analytes, and health status in dairy cows in winter

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the effect of shelter provision during the prepartum period on lying, ruminating, and feeding behavior in outdoor-housed dairy cows exposed to winter weather conditions in a temperate climate. We also aimed to determine whether shelter provision during the prepartum period influenced blood analytes related to energy metabolism, body cleanliness, and health status. In this study, 2 cohorts of 12 multiparous Holstein prepartum cows were tested in winter. Twenty-five days before their expected calving date, the cows in each cohort were paired and randomly assigned to an open paddock without shelter or to one with access to an artificial shelter until calving. Shelter use, lying time, number of lying bouts, duration of lying bouts, rumination time, and feeding time were continuously recorded during the 3 wk before calving. Cows were assessed weekly for body cleanliness throughout the 3-wk prepartum period. A blood sample was taken from the coccygeal vein of each cow at wk −3, −2, −1, 1, 2, and 3 relative to calving date, and were assayed for nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate, and haptoglobin concentrations. Cases of clinical health disorders after calving were also recorded. The cows spent 60% of their daily time in the shelters, and for 75% of that time they were lying down. Cows with access to shelter during the prepartum period lay down around 3.2 h/d more than cows without shelter on wk −3 and −2 relative to calving. The cows with shelter access spent less time feeding during the morning (wk −3: 29.7 min; wk −2: 12.1 min; wk −1: 17.3 min) and afternoon (wk −3: 18.2 min; wk −2: 21.9 min) than cows without shelter access. As well, cows with shelter access showed a higher body cleanliness score (~92 vs. ~48%) and lower NEFA concentrations (wk −2: 0.27 vs. 0.44 mmol/L; wk −1: 0.46 vs. 0.64 mmol/L) in the precalving period, and lower haptoglo-bin concentrations in the first week postpartum (0.34 vs. 0.79 mg/mL) than cows without shelter access. We observed no treatment differences in daily rumination time, β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations, or postpartum health disorders. Despite the small number of dairy cows used in this study, these findings suggest that having access to a shelter during the prepartum period increases lying time, improves body cleanliness, and reduces adipose mobilization. Therefore, it is important to provide a protected area for the welfare of prepartum dairy cows exposed to winter climate conditions.

Behavior of dairy cows managed outdoors in winter: Effects of weather and paddock soil conditions

“…Dairy cows managed outdoors may seek protection from windy and rainy conditions (Schütz et al, 2010), and will spend the majority of their time under shelter when provided during winter (Cartes et al, 2021). This is likely related to the cow's motivation to access comfortable, dry, lying surfaces, which can be limited in winter conditions.…”

“…This is likely related to the cow's motivation to access comfortable, dry, lying surfaces, which can be limited in winter conditions. For example, in both housed and pastured cattle, cows prefer to lie on dry, well-bedded, clean surfaces (Fregonesi et al, 2007;Reich et al, 2010;Schütz et al, 2019;Cartes et al, 2021). The amount of time that cows spend lying is an important welfare indicator.…”

Time Spent in a Maternity Pen during Winter Influences Cow and Calf Behavior in Pasture-Based Dairy Systems

“…Outdoor paddock set-up allowed for visual, auditory, olfactory, and limited tactile contact between cows because an electric fence separated the experimental outdoor paddocks. The amount of mud was controlled through a boot test used previously by our research group [ 22 ] and adapted from Chen et al [ 27 ]. To do this, the researcher stands on 2 spots inside of each outdoor paddock, and the marks left on the boots indicate how far mud comes up.…”

“…Because environmental winter factors in temperate areas, such as rain and low temperatures, can reduce lying time [ 8 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], it may be beneficial to move prepartum cows from an outdoor paddock to an indoor calving area before calving to ensure the protection from adverse weather. A previous study has shown that when managed in outdoor paddocks without access to shelter during winter, cows spend less time lying, body cleanliness is impacted, and their blood NEFA concentrations increase prepartum [ 22 ]; these results are of interest provided that decreased lying times in prepartum dairy cows is associated with lower calf survival at parturition [ 23 ]. Moreover, elevated prepartum serum NEFA concentrations are associated with dystocia [ 24 ] and stillborn calf [ 23 ].…”

Toward on-farm measurement of personality traits and their relationships to behavior and productivity of grazing dairy cattle

“…As such, the relationships between personality traits, daily behavior patterns, and milk production found in this study were derived from the first set of behavioral tests. However, we caution that these relationships could differ depending on the season, given that weather conditions are known to affect the behavior of grazing dairy cattle (Thompson et al, 2019;Hendriks et al, 2020;Cartes et al, 2021). We also encourage these behavioral tests to be repeated in different management systems (e.g., indoor-housed, larger farms, pasture-based farms providing supplementary feed) to determine whether they are suitable for characterizing and predicting daily behavior and productivity across different contexts.…”