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Effect of lactation stage, its number, current milk performance and barn air temperature on laterality of Holstein dairy cows laying behaviour
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Zejdová, Petra Falta, Daniel Chládek, Gustav Máchal, Ladislav |
| Copyright Year | 2011 |
| Abstract | ZEJDOVÁ, P., FALTA, D., CHLÁDEK, G., MÁCHAL, L.: Eff ect of lactation stage, its number, current milk performance and barn air temperature on laterality of Holstein dairy cows laying behaviour. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2011, LIX, No. 5, pp. 315–322 The aim of this study was to determine eff ect of lactation stage and number, current milk performance and ambient temperature on laterality of dairy cows laying behaviour (i.e. preference of either le or right body side). The monitoring was performed at the University Training Farm in Žabčice, Czech Republic, (geographical coordinates 49° 0’4’’ N and 16° 36’ E, the altitude 179 m) within the six warmest months of the year 2010 (i.e. from 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010). Observed were altogether 70 Holstein dairy cows with the average daily milk production of 34.48 kg of milk, which were kept in loose housing boxes with bedding (size of boxes: 2500 mm x 1250 mm). Animals were directly observed once a week (always at 9.00 a.m.). In the course of observation, the position of dairy cows in the barn was exactly recorded. In case of laying animals, it was recorded on which body side they were resting. Altogether 1,239 records of laying position of individual dairy cows were analysed and it was found out that the experimental animals preferred the le body side of their body (le and right laterality was observed in 671 and 568 animals, respectively). This le -side laterality was more frequent among animals in later stages of lactation (more than 200 days) and also in dairy cows with a higher number of lactations (4th and more). Dairy cows with a below-average milk performance rested on their le body side more frequently than those with a high level of milk production. As compared with average and/or low air temperatures, the le laterality was more frequent in periods of high ambient temperatures. dairy cow, laterality, stage of lactation, lactation number, temperature of barn atmosphere, milk performance Nowadays, animal welfare is a topic, which is discussed more and more frequently. When speaking about welfare we can also say that the animal is “happy” and it is generally known that only “happy” animals can reach the maximum level of their performance – of course within the limits of their physiological capacity. For that reason the animal welfare should be in the focus of interest of not only animal protectionists but also animal breeders and herdsmen who should be maximally interested in the welfare of their animals. However, when evaluating the degree/extent of animal welfare, we usually encounter some unexpected problems because it is not possible to asses the level of “satisfaction” by common technical means and/ or methods. To solve this problem, many authors tried to calculate various indexes and formulas and at present one of the most frequent is the so-called cow comfort index (CCI), which expresses the ratio of cows standing to lying in the stall (Nocek, 2009; Ito et al., 2009). When estimating the CCI within an interval of 1 to 2 hours a er milking, its value should be higher than 85 % (Stone, 2006). The time cows spend lying down and how o en they lie down 316 P. Zejdová, D. Falta, G. Chládek, L. Máchal then can be used to evaluate the quality of barns and it should be emphasised in this context that the access to a comfortable lying area is one of the most important design criteria in the fi eld of dairy cow housing (Ito et al., 2009). From time to time, all animals need to have a rest and to sleep unmolested. To satisfy this need, they require a place that would be comfortable, hygienic and safe. The relative importance of these requirements diff ers in dependence on the type and age of the animal. For mature dairy cows, the two most important parameters of a good bed are cleanness and excellent plasticity. Good hygiene is very important. Good standard of hygiene is necessary for the reduction of the risk of penetration of microorganisms into the teat canal and the occurrence of mastitis (Webster, 1999). If the bedding layer is thick, the laying period is longer (Colam-Ainsworth et al., 1989; Drissler, et al., 2005). In an experiment performed by Tucker et al. (2009b) cows spent 3 min more lying down for each additional kilogram of shavings and cows increased lying time by 12 min for every additional kilogram of straw. These results indicated that additional bedding above a scant amount improves cow comfort (as measured by lying time); however, the positive eff ect of thicker bedding works only to a certain extent because boxes with a too high thick layer of bedding may show a quite opposite eff ect and prevent a comfortable rest (Doležal et al., 2002). Important is not only the quality of box surface but also the number of boxes and the free area available for each animal. If the access to free boxes is complicated, the competition among animals becomes more intensive and they must spent more time staying outside boxes so that also the laying period is reduced (Fregonesi et al., 2007). Thus, it could be expected that dairy cows occupying higher position in the herd hierarchy would get an advantage over others when competing for the place of resting and that they would spent more time by laying than the submissive animals. This expectation was corroborated by Rosecká and Štolc (2003) who observed that dairy cows occupying lower positions in the herd hierarchy spent less time by laying than their superior herdmates and that also their milk performance was below the average of the experimental group. Webster (1999), as well, concluded that even in the herd of hornless dairy cow submissive individuals may be harassed/oppressed by others that they do not dare to lay down; they are tired, get thin, their milk performance is reduced and sometimes they even can suff er from leg disorders. On the other hand, however, Lauwere et al. (1996) stated that the daily total times spent lying or feeding were not related to the dominance value. Time spent for laying is infl uenced also by the season. Cows spent more time lying during the winter period, regardless to the technology of housing (O’Driscoll et al., 2009). Besides the lost possibility of comfortable laying and resting, high ambient temperatures and exposition to sun radiation without a possibility to stay in shade in summer represent also very stressing factors for dairy cows. Schutz et al. (2008) described an interesting experiment of this type as follows: “A group of twelve dairy cows was not allowed to lay and rest for a period of 12 hours. Therea er, animals were admitted to the pen, in which they could enter either a shaded area (but without possibility to lay and rest) or an area exposed to the sun radiation and enabling comfortable laying. This experiment demonstrated that the time interval spent in shade lengthened in dependence on increasing air temperature. The intensifi cation of solar radiation had a similar eff ect. This observation indicates that in spite of the fact that for dairy cows it is important to have an opportunity to lie down comfortably, they prefer the possibility to eliminate the heat stress because they preferred staying in the shade to laying in the sun – even a er a 12-hour period of forced staying.” Lying comfortably is an essential part of each productive cow’s day. The most important of cow’s daily needs is the need to lie down and ruminate for 12 to 14 hours a day. Cows that lie for this period are healthier and more productive, while uncomfortable animals lie less and stand more (Thorne, 2008). That is why a number of studies dealing with problems associated with lying of dairy cows were performed. However, they were mostly focused on eff ects of litter and its quality, housing, and/or ambient temperature. With the laterality and its possible correlations (e.g. age of animals, stage of lactation and/or milk performance, however, dealt only a few of them. The aim of this experiment was to test eff ects of stage and number of lactation, current milk performance and ambient temperature on the laterality of laying dairy cows. It was expected that females in higher stages of lactation would prefer le body side when laying and resting (because of enlarged uterus, which is situated to the right in the pelvic cavity). Further it was also expected that laterality of laying and resting would not be infl uenced by the number of lactation as this parameter was not considered to be important. According to the third of our hypotheses, dairy cows with a lower milk performance would lay on their right side less frequently than the high performing animals (because these should consume more feed so that their rumen contained more digested feed). Finally, the fourth hypothesis expected that at high ambient temperatures, the dairy cows would lay on the le body side more frequently than during the periods of low temperatures, mainly due to a limited feed intake resulting from heat stress so that the volume of their rumen would also be smaller. Eff ect of lactation stage, its number, current milk performance and barn air temperature on laterality 317 MATERIALS AND METHODS The observation of animals took place on the University Training Farm in Žabčice (Czech Republic; geographic coordinates 49°0’4”N and 16°36’ E; altitude 179 m) within the period of the six warmest months of the year 2010 (i.e. from 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010). The experimental barn was the same as that used by Walterová et al. (2009) in their study. The study object was a barn with loose housing and bedded laying boxes. This barn was longitudinally separated by a feeding table into two parts and each of them was further divided into two sections of the same size so that there were altogether four sections in this barn. In each section, there were 77 comfort laying boxes arranged in three rows with two drinking bowls. Straw was used as the bedding material. Bedding of laying boxes, removal of manure, an |
| Starting Page | 315 |
| Ending Page | 322 |
| Page Count | 8 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.11118/actaun201159050315 |
| Volume Number | 59 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://acta.mendelu.cz/media/pdf/actaun_2011059050315.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.11118/actaun201159050315 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
