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Frondelius L, Van Weyenberg S, Lindeberg H, Van Nuffel A, Maselyne J, Pastell M. Spatial behaviour of dairy cows is affected by lameness. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Gündel S, Looft C, Foldager L, Thomsen PT. Effect of lameness on feeding behavior of zero grazed Jersey dairy cows. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:980238. [PMID: 36204289 PMCID: PMC9530783 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.980238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The dairy industry faces major challenges with high levels of lameness, in parallel to an increased consumer focus on animal welfare. This encourages farmers to consider more robust breeds, such as Jersey cows. As little is known about the behavior of this breed under loose housing conditions, the present study sought to describe the feeding behavior of lame and non-lame Jersey cows in different parities. Such breed-specific information of behavioral changes is needed for breed-specific herd management decisions and may contribute to identifying animals that are susceptible to developing lameness in the future, thus reducing impacts on the welfare and production of cows. Feeding data from 116 Danish Jersey cows were collected using automatic feeders, and lameness status was assessed by technicians every second week. The cows were kept in a loose housing system, with cubicles, a slatted concrete floor, and automatic milking robots. Eating time per visit and per day, the number of visits per day, and intervals between meals were analyzed using generalized linear mixed effects models. The effect of lameness was not significant for any variable. Primiparous Jersey cows had significantly longer eating times per day, shorter meal intervals, and a lower number of visits per day than older Jersey cows. Week in lactation affected the eating time per visit and per day, the number of visits, and between-meal intervals. In conclusion, we found no differences between lame and non-lame Jersey cows but between parities, which disagree with previous research on other breeds, suggesting that Jersey cows not just differ in size and looks but also in their behavioral reaction when lame. Although data from only one herd of a research center were used, this study has demonstrated the need for further research about breed-specific differences and their implications for the health and welfare of the animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Gündel
- Department of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Hochschule Neubrandenburg—University of Applied Sciences, Neubrandenburg, Germany
- *Correspondence: Sandra Gündel
| | - Christian Looft
- Department of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Hochschule Neubrandenburg—University of Applied Sciences, Neubrandenburg, Germany
| | - Leslie Foldager
- Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Peter T. Thomsen
- Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Lameness changes the behavior of dairy cows: daily rank order of lying and feeding behavior decreases with increasing number of lameness indicators present in cow locomotion. J Vet Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2022.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Abstract
As livestock production systems have changed to intensive commercial structures to meet the increasing demand for animal-based products, there has been an increase in food production diseases, subsequently resulting in animal welfare issues. After mastitis and infertility, lameness is one of the three major issues affecting dairy cattle globally, resulting in reduced productivity, economic losses, and animal welfare problems. Lameness is associated with reduced milk yield, lack of weight gain, poor fertility, and frequently, animal culling. Environmental (temperature, humidity) and animal risk factors contribute to disease severity, making this multifaceted disease difficult to eradicate and control. As such, prevalence rates of lameness in dairy herds ranges from 17% to 35% globally. Clinical lameness is often treated with antibiotic therapy, which is undesirable in food-producing animals, as outlined in the One Health and the European Farm to Fork food sustainability goals. Lameness is not a single disease in dairy cows but is the manifestation a range of issues, making lameness control one of the greatest challenges in dairy farming. Lameness prevention, therefore, must be a key focus of farm management and sustainable food production. There is an urgent need to establish farm-level aetiology of disease, promote the recognition of lameness, and implement effective control measures to lower incidence and transmission of disease within herds.
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Wrzecińska M, Czerniawska-Piątkowska E, Kowalczyk A. The impact of stress and selected environmental factors on cows’ reproduction. JOURNAL OF APPLIED ANIMAL RESEARCH 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/09712119.2021.1960842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marcjanna Wrzecińska
- Department of Ruminant Science, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland
| | | | - Alicja Kowalczyk
- Department of Environment Hygiene and Animal Welfare, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław, Poland
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Sobte HF, Buijs S. Impact of paper bedding on lying behaviour and welfare in lactating dairy cows. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Dos Reis BR, Fuka DR, Easton ZM, White RR. An open-source research tool to study triaxial inertial sensors for monitoring selected behaviors in sheep. Transl Anim Sci 2020; 4:txaa188. [PMID: 33210081 PMCID: PMC7651769 DOI: 10.1093/tas/txaa188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The use of automated systems for monitoring animal behavior provides information on individual animal behavior and can be used to enhance animal productivity. However, the advancement of this industry is hampered by technology costs, challenges with power supplies, limited data accessibility, and inconsistent testing approaches for confirming the detection of livestock behaviors. Development of open-source research tools similar to commercially available wearable technologies may contribute to the development of more-efficient and affordable technologies. The objective of this study was to demonstrate an open-source, microprocessor-based sensor designed to monitor and enable differentiation among selected behaviors of adult wethers. The sensor was comprised of an inexpensive espressif ESP-32-WROOM-32 microprocessor with Bluetooth communication, a generic MPU92/50 motion sensor that contains a three-axis accelerometer, three-axis magnetometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and a 5-V rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The open-source Arduino IDE software was used to program the microprocessor and to adjust the frequency of sampling, the data packet to send, and the operating conditions. For demonstration purposes, sensors were placed on six housed sheep for three 1-h increments with concurrent visual behavioral observation. Sensor readings (x-, y-, and z-axis) were summarized (mean and SD) within a minute and compared to animal behavior observations (also on a by-minute basis) using a linear mixed-effect model with animal as a random effect and behavioral classifier as a fixed effect. This analysis demonstrated the basic utility of the sensor to differentiate among animal behaviors based on sensed data (P < 0.001). Although substantial additional work is needed for algorithm development, power source testing, and network optimization, this open-source platform appears to be a promising strategy to research wearable sensors in a generalizable manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara R Dos Reis
- Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
| | - Daniel R Fuka
- Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
| | - Zachary M Easton
- Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
| | - Robin R White
- Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
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Tucker CB, Jensen MB, de Passillé AM, Hänninen L, Rushen J. Invited review: Lying time and the welfare of dairy cows. J Dairy Sci 2020; 104:20-46. [PMID: 33162094 DOI: 10.3168/jds.2019-18074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 08/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Adequate time lying down is often considered an important aspect of dairy cow welfare. We examine what is known about cows' motivation to lie down and the consequences for health and other indicators of biological function when this behavior is thwarted. We review the environmental and animal-based factors that affect lying time in the context of animal welfare. Our objective is to review the research into the time that dairy cows spend lying down and to critically examine the evidence for the link with animal welfare. Cows can be highly motivated to lie down. They show rebound lying behavior after periods of forced standing and will sacrifice other activities, such as feeding, to lie down for an adequate amount of time. They will work, by pushing levers or weighted gates, to lie down and show possible indicators of frustration when lying behavior is thwarted. Some evidence suggests that risk of lameness is increased in environments that provide unfavorable conditions for cows to lie down and where cows are forced to stand. Lameness itself can result in longer lying times, whereas mastitis reduces it. Cow-based factors such as reproductive status, age, and milk production influence lying time, but the welfare implications of these differences are unknown. Lower lying times are reported in pasture-based systems, dry lots, and bedded packs (9 h/d) compared with tiestalls and freestalls (10 to 12 h/d) in cross-farm research. Unfavorable conditions, including too few lying stalls for the number of cows, hard or wet lying surfaces, inadequate bedding, stalls that are too small or poorly designed, heat, and rain all reduce lying time. Time constraints, such as feeding or milking, can influence lying time. However, more information is needed about the implications of mediating factors such as the effect of the standing surface (concrete, pasture, or other surfaces) and cow behavior while standing (e.g., being restrained, walking, grazing) to understand the effect of low lying times on animal welfare. Many factors contribute to the difficulty of finding a valid threshold for daily lying time to use in the assessment of animal welfare. Although higher lying times often correspond with cow comfort, and lower lying times are seen in unfavorable conditions, exceptions occur, namely when cows lie down for longer because of disease or when they spend more time standing because of estrus or parturition, or to engage in other behaviors. In conclusion, lying behavior is important to dairy cattle, but caution and a full understanding of the context and the character of the animals in question is needed before drawing firm conclusions about animal welfare from measures of lying time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cassandra B Tucker
- Center for Animal Welfare, Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis 95616.
| | - Margit Bak Jensen
- Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Foulum, 8830 Tjele, Denmark
| | - Anne Marie de Passillé
- Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4
| | - Laura Hänninen
- Research Centre for Animal Welfare and Department of Production Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Finland
| | - Jeffrey Rushen
- Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4
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O'Leary N, Byrne D, O'Connor A, Shalloo L. Invited review: Cattle lameness detection with accelerometers. J Dairy Sci 2020; 103:3895-3911. [DOI: 10.3168/jds.2019-17123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/30/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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O'Leary NW, Byrne DT, Garcia P, Werner J, Cabedoche M, Shalloo L. Grazing Cow Behavior's Association with Mild and Moderate Lameness. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:E661. [PMID: 32290424 PMCID: PMC7222740 DOI: 10.3390/ani10040661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2020] [Revised: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Accelerometer-based mobility scoring has focused on cow behaviors such as lying and walking. Accuracy levels as high as 91% have been previously reported. However, there has been limited replication of results. Here, measures previously identified as indicative of mobility, such as lying bouts and walking time, were examined. On a research farm and a commercial farm, 63 grazing cows' behavior was monitored in four trials (16, 16, 16, and 15 cows) using leg-worn accelerometers. Seventeen good mobility (score 0), 23 imperfect mobility (score 1), and 22 mildly impaired mobility (score 2) cows were monitored. Only modest associations with activity, standing, and lying events were found. Thus, behavior monitoring appears to be insufficient to discern mildly and moderately impaired mobility of grazing cows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niall W O'Leary
- Land Management and Systems, Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Lincoln University, Lincoln, 7647 Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Daire T Byrne
- Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, P61 C997 Cork, Ireland
| | - Pauline Garcia
- Seenovate, MIBI Building 672, Rue du Mas de Verchant, 34000 Montpellier, France
| | - Jessica Werner
- Animal Nutrition and Rangeland Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
| | | | - Laurence Shalloo
- Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, P61 C997 Cork, Ireland
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