Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T17:55:15.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some effects of housing on the social behaviour of dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

K. Miller  and
D. G. M. Wood-Gush
K. Miller
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecology and Resource Management†, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
Get access

Abstract

A herd of high-yielding Friesian dairy cows was observed outdoors and in a modern cubicle house. Indoors there was a much higher level of gross agonistic behaviour than at pasture (9·5 v. 1·1 per h). Furthermore, the use of continuous filming showed a high level of avoidance amongst the cows which impeded the movement of the more submissive cows. All cows spent proportionately 0·34 to 0·56 of their time indoors watching one another and 0·45 to 0·66 of their time in ‘social tension’. There was less synchrony of behaviour indoors than at pasture and despite the presence of one Calan Broadbent stall for each cow there was a high rate of displacement from the stalls involving cows of all degrees of dominance. The results are discussed in relation to housing design and husbandry practice.

Keywords

dairy cowshousingsocial behaviour
Type
Papers
Information
Animal Production , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , December 1991 , pp. 271 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnold, G. W. and Dudzinsky, M. L. 1978. Ethology of free-ranging domestic animals. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Benham, P. F. J. 1982. Synchronization of behaviour in grazing cattle. Applied Animal Ethology 8: 403–404 (abstr.).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brantas, G. C. 1968. On the dominance order in Friesian- Dutch dairy cows. Zeitschrift fur Tierzuchtung und Zuchtungsbiologie 84:127–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, S. J. G. 1989. Chillingham cattle: social and maintenance behaviour in an ungulate that breeds all year round. Animal Behaviour 38: 215–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, B. O. and Duncan, I. J. H. 1989. The notion of ethological ‘need’. Models of motivation and animal welfare. Animal Behaviour 36:1696–1707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiley-Worthington, M. 1977. Behavioural problems of farm animals. Oriel Press, London.Google Scholar
Kilgour, R. and Dalton, C. 1984. Livestock behaviour — a practical guide. Granada, London.Google Scholar
Krohn, C. C. 1989. Cows adaptation in a stimulus-rich, environment and in a tie-stall. Proceedings of the Nordic Society for Veterinary Ethology. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
Le Neindre, P. 1982. Cow-calf relationships: the effects of management type. In Welfare and husbandry of calves, (ed Signoret, J. P.) Martinus Nijhoff, London.Google Scholar
Metz, J. H. M. and Mekking, P. 1984. Crowding phenomena in dairy cows as related to available idling space in a cubicle housing system. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 12: 63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connell, J., Giller, P. S. and Meaney, W. 1989. A comparison of dairy cattle behavioural patterns at pasture and during confinement. Irish journal of Agricultural Research 28: 65–72.Google Scholar
Potter, M. J. and Broom, D. M. 1987. The behaviour and welfare of cows in relation to cubicle house design. In Cattle housing systems, lameness and behaviour (ed. Wierenga, H. K. and Peterse, D. J.), pp. 129–147. Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Rheinhardt, V. and Rheinhardt, A. 1975. Cohesive relationships in a cattle herd (Bos indicus). Behaviour 77: 121–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sato, S. and Wood-Gush, D. G. M. 1988. The development of behaviour in beef suckler calves. Biology of Behaviour 13: 126–142.Google Scholar
Schloeth, R. 1958. Cycle annuel et comportement social du taureau de Camargue. Mammalia 22:121–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wierenga, H. 1983. The influence of the space for walking and lying in a cubicle system on the behaviour of dairy cattle. In Farm animal housing and welfare (ed. Baxter, S. H., Baxter, M. R. and MacCormack, J. A. D.). Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Wood-Gush, D. G. M. 1973. Animal welfare in modern agriculture. British Veterinary Journal 129:167–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood-Gush, D. G. M. 1988. The relevance of the knowledge of free-ranging domesticated animals for animal husbandry. Proceedings of the international congress on applied ethology in farm animals, Skara (ed. Unshelm, J., Putten, G. van, Zeeb, K. and Ekesbo, I.), pp. 337–344.Google Scholar