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Methods for assessing sociability of dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2017

J. Gibbons ,
A. B. Lawrence  and
M. Haskell
J. Gibbons*
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
A. B. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
M. Haskell
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
*
Email:jenny.gibbons@sac.ac.uk
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Extract

Sociability refers to the extent to which animals seek social companionship. Individual differences in social behaviour exist between animals. It is important to measure individual social motivation in order to develop suitable temperament scores that can be used in future breeding programmes or as part of welfare assessment schemes. Runway tests have been shown as reliable methods of measuring sociability in animals (Birds Mills & Faure, 1991; Sheep Sibbald et al., 2005). The aim was to develop a suitable test that could be used to measure sociability of cows in a commercial situation. The following questions were addressed i) How repeatable is the runway test when carried out on dairy cattle, ii) Does a cow’s performance in a runway test correlate with social behaviour within a group house setting?

Type
Theatre Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2007 , April 2007 , pp. 38
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2007

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References

Mills, A.D and Faure, J.M. 1991. Divergent selection for duration of tonic mobility and social reinstatement behaviour in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). J.Comp. Psychol. 105: 25–38.Google Scholar
Sibbald, A.M., Elston, D.A., Smith, D.J.F and Erhard, H.W. 2005. A method for assessing the relative sociability of individuals within groups: an example with grazing sheep. AABS, 91: 57–73.Google Scholar