Changes in Dairy Cow Behavior with and without Assistance at Calving
Autor: | Zoë J. Huggett, Matthew Bell, Kimberley R. Slinger, Bethan Cavendish, Georgios Tzimiropoulos, John McDonagh |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
040301 veterinary sciences
business.industry behavior Agriculture (General) 0402 animal and dairy science Ice calving Behavioral pattern food and beverages 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences Plant Science 040201 dairy & animal science Generalized linear mixed model S1-972 0403 veterinary science Behavioral data Animal science birth observations Duration (music) Medicine dairy cows business Agronomy and Crop Science management Food Science |
Zdroj: | Agriculture Volume 11 Issue 8 Agriculture, Vol 11, Iss 722, p 722 (2021) |
ISSN: | 2077-0472 |
DOI: | 10.3390/agriculture11080722 |
Popis: | The aim of this study was to characterize calving behavior of dairy cows and to compare the duration and frequency of behaviors for assisted and unassisted dairy cows at calving. Behavioral data from nine hours prior to calving were collected for 35 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Cows were continuously monitored under 24 h video surveillance. The behaviors of standing, lying, walking, shuffle, eating, drinking and contractions were recorded for each cow until birth. A generalized linear mixed model was used to assess differences in the duration and frequency of behaviors prior to calving for assisted and unassisted cows. The nine hours prior to calving was assessed in three-hour time periods. The study found that the cows spent a large proportion of their time either lying (0.49) or standing (0.35), with a higher frequency of standing (0.36) and shuffle (0.26) bouts than other behaviors during the study. There were no differences in behavior between assisted and unassisted cows. During the three-hours prior to calving, the duration and bouts of lying, including contractions, were higher than during other time periods. While changes in behavior failed to identify an association with calving assistance, the monitoring of behavioral patterns could be used as an alert to the progress of parturition. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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