Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T11:32:17.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A note on overdispersion as an index of behavioural synchrony: a pilot study in dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

S. Raussi ,
L. Jauhiainen ,
S. Saastamoinen ,
J. Siivonen ,
H. Hepola  and
I. Veissier
S. Raussi*
Affiliation:
MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Animal Production Research, Vakolantie 55, 03400 VIHTI, Finland Department of Production Animal Medicine, Research Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Helsinki, PO Box 57, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
L. Jauhiainen
Affiliation:
Services Unit, MTT Agrifood Research Finland, 31600 Jokioinen, Finland
S. Saastamoinen
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, University Of Helsinki, PO Box 28, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
J. Siivonen
Affiliation:
MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Animal Production Research, Vakolantie 55, 03400 VIHTI, Finland Department of Production Animal Medicine, Research Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Helsinki, PO Box 57, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
H. Hepola
Affiliation:
Department of Production Animal Medicine, Research Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Helsinki, PO Box 57, 00014 Helsinki, Finland Department of Animal Science, University Of Helsinki, PO Box 28, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
I. Veissier
Affiliation:
INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, 63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
Get access

Abstract

We developed a method for studying the synchrony of behaviour based on calculations of overdispersion of a binomial process. The lying behaviour of cows was investigated under two different housing units inside the same barn. The first unit housed 30 cows undergoing conventional milking and the second unit housed 27 cows undergoing automatic milking. The lying behaviour of the cows was observed over 3 weeks in 12 periods of 6 h each. Every 5 min, we counted the number of cows lying down in the cubicles. As external cues, like feeding and conventional milking, can promote synchrony in dairy cows, we expected that cows conventionally milked would show more behavioural synchrony than automatically milked cows. Cows lied down synchronously in both units (overdispersion 1.67, P < 0.01). Lying synchrony tended to be slightly bigger in automatically than in conventionally milked cows (overdispersion 1.76 v. 1.58, P = 0.09), although the proportion of cows lying down was on average greater in conventionally than in automatically milked cows (60.7% v. 45.6%). This suggests that synchronized lying behaviour in cows is a constant phenomenon that depends on social facilitation rather than on external cues. The overdispersion index appears to be a useful tool for studying the synchrony of animal behaviour when observations are made at the group level.

Keywords

automatic milkingbehavioural synchronycowlyingoverdispersion
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , March 2011 , pp. 428 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2011

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

Bernstein, IS 1991. An empirical comparison of focal and ad libitum scoring with commentary on instantaneous scans, all occurrence and one-zero techniques. Animal Behaviour 42, 721–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouissou, MF, Hövels, J 1976. Effet d’un contact précoce sur quelques aspects du comportament social des bovins domestiques. Biology of Behaviour 1, 17–36.Google Scholar
Bouissou, MF, Boissy, A, Le Neindre, P, Veissier, I 2001. The social behaviour of cattle. In Social behaviour in farm animals (ed. LJ Keeling and HW Gonyou), pp. 113–145. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, DA 1978. Socially facilitated behaviour. Quarterly Review of Biology 53, 373–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conradt, L, Roper, TJ 2000. Activity synchrony and social cohesion: a fission-fusion model. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 267, 2213–2218.Google Scholar
Docking, CM, Van de Weerd, HA, Day, JEL, Edwards, SA 2008. The influence of age on the use of potential enrichment objects and synchronisation of behaviour of pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 110, 244–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, J 1996. Choosing an appropriate sample interval for instantaneous sampling. Behavioural Processes 38, 11–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Engel, J, Lamprecht, J 1997. Doing what everybody does? A procedure for investigating behavioural synchronization. Journal of Theoretical Biology 185, 255–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friend, TH, Polan, CE 1974. Social rank, feeding behavior, and free stall utilisation by dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 57, 1214–1220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friend, TH, Gwazdauskas, FC, Polan, CE 1979. Change in adrenal response from free stall competition. Journal of Dairy Science 62, 768–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Galloway, AT, Addessi, E, Fragaszy, DM, Visalberghi, E 2005. Social facilitation of eating familiar food in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella): does it involve behavioural coordination? International Journal of Primatology 26, 181–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gautrais, J, Michelena, P, Sibbald, A, Bon, R, Deneubourg, J-L 2007. Alleomimetic synchronization in Merino sheep. Animal Behaviour 74, 1443–1454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilbe, J 2009. Logistic regression models. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, USA, 656p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jauhiainen, L, Korhonen, HT 2005. Optimal behaviour sampling and autocorrelation curve: modelling data of farmed blue foxes. Acta ethologica 15, 13–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ketelaar-de Lauwere, CC, Ipema, AH, van Ouwerkerk, ENJ, Hendriks, MMWB, Metz, JHM, Noordhuizen, JPTM, Schouten, WGP 1999. Voluntary automatic milking in combination with grazing of dairy cows milking frequency and effects on behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 64, 91–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krohn, CC, Munksgaard, L, Jonasen, B 1992. Behaviour of dairy cows kept in extensive (loose housing/pasture) or intensive (tie stall) environments I. Experimental procedure, facilities, time budgets – diurnal and seasonal conditions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 34, 37–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michelena, P, Gautrais, J, Gérard, J-F, Bon, R, Deneubourg, J-L 2008. Social cohesion in groups of sheep: effect of activity level, sex composition and group size. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 112, 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, K, Wood-Gush, DGM 1991. Some effects of housing on the social behaviour of dairy cows. Animal Production 53, 271–278.Google Scholar
Munksgaard, L, Jensen, MB, Pedersen, LJ, Hansen, SW, Matthews, L 2005. Quantifying behavioural priorities – effects of time constraints on behaviour of dairy cows, Bos taurus. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 92, 3–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicol, CJ 1995. The social transmission of information and behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 44, 79–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Connell, J, Giller, PS, 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
Rook, AJ, Penning, PD 1991. Synchronisation of eating, ruminating and idling activity by grazing sheep. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 32, 157–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Šárová, R, Špinka, M, Arias Panama, JL 2007. Synchronization and leadership in switches between resting and activity in a beef cattle herd – a case study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 108, 327–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shiyomi, M, Tsuiki, M 1999. Model for the spatial pattern formed by a small herd in grazing cattle. Ecological Modelling 119, 231–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sumner, J 1991. Design of dairy cow housing systems in the United Kingdom. Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation 11, 650–653.Google Scholar
Sweeting, MP, Houpt, CE, Houpt, KA 1985. Social facilitation of feeding and time budgets in stabled ponies. Journal of Animal Science 60, 369–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veissier, I, Le Neindre, P 1989. Weaning in calves: its effects on social organization. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 24, 43–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veissier, I, Le Neindre, P, Trillat, G 1989. The use of circadian behaviour to measure adaptation of calves to changes in their environment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 22, 1–12.Google Scholar
Veissier, I, Boissy, A, Nowak, R, Orgeur, P, Poindron, P 1998. Ontogeny of social awareness in domestic herbivores. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 57, 233–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner-Storch, AM, Palmer, RW 2003. Feeding behavior, milking behavior, and milk yields of cows milked in a parlor versus an automatic milking system. Journal of Dairy Science 86, 1494–1502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, AB, Hurnik, JF 1994. Synchronization of behaviour among laying hens in battery cages. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 40, 153–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wierenga, HK, Hopster, H 1990. The significance of cubicles for the behaviour of dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 26, 309–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar