Quantifying behavioural priorities—effects of time constraints on behaviour of dairy cows, Bos taurus

The aim of the study was to investigate whether the presence of digital dermatitis (DD) and sole ulcer (SU) in dairy cows was associated with changes in behaviour and milk production. Swedish Red and Swedish Holstein cows (mostly in the first to second lactation) were housed in a cubicle system with automatically scraped passageways. After maintenance claw trimming of all the cows in the herd, 10 cows with DD and 10 cows with SU were selected. For each DD-or SU-affected cow, a healthy control cow, matched according to breed, age, parity and lactation stage, was selected. The behaviour of each of the 20 focal cows was observed for 1 h during 2 to 3 weeks after claw trimming (WACT; period 1) and for 1 h during 5 to 6 WACT (period 2). Milk production parameters: energy-corrected milk (ECM), fat and protein percentages and somatic cell counts (SCCs) were recorded once monthly. Lameness was scored once at the start of the study and cows with SU and DD showed more score 2 lameness (42% v. 31%) than the healthy cows (12%). Most differences in behaviour were found during 2 to 3 WACT when DD-and SU-affected cows were lying less ( P 5 0.001 and P 5 0.012, respectively) than healthy cows. Ruminating while standing was performed more in DD-affected cows ( P , 0.001) and tended to be performed more in SU-affected cows ( P 5 0.079) than their controls. Vigilance was performed more in DD-and SU-affected cows than in healthy cows ( P , 0.001 and P 5 0.047). Cows with DD produced approximately 5.5 kg less ECM per day both at 2 to 3 WACT ( P 5 0.022) and at 5 to 6 WACT ( P 5 0.017) than healthy cows, whereas SU-affected cows tended to produce less ECM at 5 to 6 WACT ( P 5 0.059). No differences in milk fat and protein or SCC were found. It may be concluded that DD-affected cows showed a stronger behavioural response to the claw disease than the SU-affected cows. This shows the importance of regular claw checking and claw trimming of the cows in order to avoid the negative effects on behaviour and milk production.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of digital dermatitis and sole ulcer on dairy cow behaviour and milk production

Pavlenko

Bergsten

Ekesbo

et al. 2011

“…In addition, when left undisturbed, they will spend approximately 12 h resting in recumbency every day (e.g. Munksgaard et al, 2005). On the basis of this and the potentially serious consequences of loss of balance and subsequent falling of cattle during transport, recumbent resting is one of the most important measures when assessing the experience of transport for these animals (SCAHAW, 2002).…”

Section: Calvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Road transport of farm animals: effects of journey duration on animal welfare

Nielsen

Dybkjær

Herskin

2011

102

Transport of farm animals gives rise to concern about their welfare. Specific attention has been given to the duration of animal transport, and maximum journey durations are used in legislation that seek to minimise any negative impact of transport on animal welfare. This paper reviews the relatively few scientific investigations into effects of transport duration on animal welfare in cattle, sheep, horses, pigs and poultry. From the available literature, we attempt to distinguish between aspects, which will impair welfare on journeys of any duration, such as those associated with loading, and those aspects that may be exacerbated by journey time. We identify four aspects of animal transport, which have increasing impact on welfare as transport duration increases. These relate to (i) the physiological and clinical state of the animal before transport; and -during transport -to (ii) feeding and watering; (iii) rest and (iv) thermal environment. It is thus not journey duration per se but these associated negative aspects that are the cause of compromised welfare. We suggest that with a few exceptions, transport of long duration is possible in terms of animal welfare provided that these four issues can be dealt with for the species and the age group of the animals that are transported.

“…When dairy cows had access to stalls with dry bedding, their lying time was 13.8 h/day but with wet bedding this fell to 8.8 h/day (Fregonesi et al, 2007) which is well below the inelastic demand of 13 h/day reported by Jensen et al (2005). Munksgaard et al (2005) found that lying time had a higher priority than social contact or eating time. Tucker et al (2007) and Webster et al (2008) created extreme outdoor weather conditions using water sprinklers and fans and cows spent less time lying with wet conditions than cows housed indoors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Assessing the welfare challenges to out-wintered pregnant suckler cows

Morgan¹,

McIlvaney²,

Dwyer³

et al. 2009

Out-wintering beef cows reduces annual housing costs and bedding requirements and there is less exposure to diseases associated with housing. However, to counter these benefits cows may be exposed to conditions that pose a significant challenge to welfare, and ways of assessing this are required. Two feeding treatments were applied to four groups of 10 cows (two groups/treatment), one to maintain condition score (H) and the other to allow a modest loss of condition score (L), which is commonly applied in farm practice. Cow groups were rotated around four paddocks in a Latin Square design of four periods each of 3 weeks, and they were weighed and condition was scored at the end of each period. Their behaviour and location was recorded at 30-min intervals with six 3-h sessions in each period. Ambient temperature, wind speed, rainfall and solar radiation were recorded every 30 min to enable calculation of cow lower critical temperature (LCT). The climatic conditions were wet at the start of the experiment with moderate wind speeds throughout (5 m/s) and relatively mild ambient temperature (58C). Feeding treatment had no significant effect on any of the variables measured. Cows spent most of the observation sessions standing, particularly at the beginning of the experiment when the soil conditions were wettest. They sought sheltered locations when wind speeds were high and thus their calculated LCT was near or below ambient temperature. Nutritional models predicted periods of cold stress but the cows adapted their behaviour to counteract this, emphasising the need for a combined physical and behavioural approach to assessing welfare challenges.