Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

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! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723 Download: www.vti.bund.de/en/startseite/vti-publications/landbauforschung-special-issues.html Abstract 188 How much space do horned dairy cows need in the waiting area? KATHARINA A. ZIPP 1 , SARAH BRANDT 1 , NORA IRRGANG 1 , UTE KNIERIM 1 1 Farm Animal Behaviour and Husbandry Section, University of Kassel, Germany, www.unikassel.de/agrar/fnt, Email: zipp@uni-kassel.de The influence of three difference space allowances in the waiting area of the milking parlour (4.0, 2.5, 1.7 m²/cow) on the number of physical agonistic interactions (‘attacks’) per minute in this place, number of flinches, steps and kicks (FSK) per minute in the parlour and heart rate (HR) in both areas was investigated in 12 lower and 12 higher ranking focal cows in a research herd of 85- 87 horned German Black Pied cattle. Social position had no influence on HR and behaviour. HR in the waiting area and parlour and FSK increased with decreasing space allowance. HR was significantly higher in V1.7 than in the other two pen sizes, FSK in V1.7 compared to V4.0. ‘Attacks’ occurred fewest in V2.5 with a significant difference compared to V1.7. Thus, in terms of animal welfare and milker’s working comfort a space allowance of 1.7 m²/horned cow in the waiting area is not advisable. Major benefits of V4.0 were not detected under the given conditions. Key words: agonistic behaviour, heart rate, animal welfare, milking parlour Introduction A potential hot spot of agonistic behaviour in dairy cows is the waiting area before the milking parlour (Schneider et al. 2009). Menke et al. (1999) found a negative correlation between general space availability per cow and agonistic behaviour and skin lesions caused by horn butts. Crowding the cows so that they can hardly move, was found to decrease agonistic behaviour, but to increase heart rate (HR) up to 25% (Czako 1978), indicating stress. Social rank may modify the stress reaction to space restriction (Aschwanden et al. 2008). Finally, stress may influence behaviour and HR of the cows in the parlour (Rushen et al. 2001), so that space allowance in the waiting area may affect these, too. The aim of this study was to assess the risk of injury and stress level of horned higher and lower ranking cows in the waiting area and parlour at three different space allowances by measuring HR as well as the number of agonistic interactions before and agitation behaviour during milking. Animals, material and methodology In September 2009 the experiment was conducted on the research farm of the University of Kassel where at this time 85-87 lactating cows of the breed German Black Pied were housed in a loose housing barn with 48 deep bed cubicles and a deep litter area of 312.5 m². Out of the lactating, horned animals without lameness or other impairments of health 12 higher and 12 lower ranking focal cows were chosen via counting the injuries and hairless areas caused by horn butts and observation of agonistic behaviour (2x 2h) at the feeding rack (rank index: Schrader 2002). The data of one higher and one lower ranking cow were eliminated from analysis because they became lame or came in heat during the experiment. Due to missing values the number of analysed animals decreased further for some parameters (n see Table 1). In three consecutive weeks the cows were subjected to three space allowances, beginning with the largest and then decreasing space: 4.0, 2.5 and 1.7 m²/cow (V4.0, V2.5, V1.7). Before the experiment, the size of the waiting area was about 2.3 m²/cow. In the course of milking the space allowance in the waiting area increased because cows went into the parlour and size of the waiting area was not adjusted. At each space allowance, the cows had at least two days to adjust following four
RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012): Tackling the Future Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry. Proceedings of the 2 nd OAHC, Hamburg/Trenthorst, Germany, Sep 12-14, 2012 days of assessment of 12 focus animals per milking (2x morning, 2x afternoon per animal). Only one familiar person was milking during the whole experiment. HR was measured non-invasively via Polar S810i (Polar Electro Oy, Kempele, Finland) in beat-tobeat mode. The equipment was fixed by neoprene or rubber belts, covered with cloth of different colours to discriminate between the focus cows. The cows always waited for 15 minutes in the waiting area before milking started. After 10 minutes calming down time, the observations of 5 minutes started. This allowed HR recording at consistent space availability (HR5Min). Every 2 minutes Instantaneous Scan Sampling (Martin and Bateson 2007) of all focal cows concerning standing or not standing was carried out. HR in the waiting area was accordingly differentiated into HRstand and HRtotal for the whole period in the waiting area. Furthermore, HR from entering until leaving the milking parlour (HRmilk) was analysed. For HR5Min and HRstand only HR while cows stood was analysed whereas for HRtotal and HRmilk all HR independent from movements was taken. In the waiting area the frequency of butting, chasing up, chasing and fighting (‘attacks’), regardless of being actor or receiver, and in the parlour of flinches, steps and kicks (FSK) were counted continuously during all the time the focus animals were in that place. Inter-observer reliability between the five observers in the waiting area and four observers in the parlour involved was tested before and after the experiment and was acceptable to very good (Scan Sampling: κCohen=0.702-0.985, n=140-150; ’attacks’: r=0.748-0.935, n=6 or 7; FSK: r=0.994-0.999 n=3-7). The number of flinches (0.5), steps (1) and kicks (3) were multiplied by the factor in brackets in order to calculate one FSK value per cow and minute. Since HR (n=39-64) as well as agonistic (n=66) and agitation behaviour (n=64) were significantly higher in the afternoon milkings than in the mornings (paired T-Test, p
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Sonderheft 362 Special Issue Tackli
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Landbauforschung vTI Agriculture an
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Foreword Organic animal husbandry s
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Content RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.)
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Introduction RAHMANN G & GODINHO D
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Abstract RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.
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Discussion RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (E
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Factors Plant Height (cm) RAHMANN G
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FEC adjusted for dry matter 12000 1
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Conclusions RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (
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Results RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.)
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Kg liveweight (mean) RAHMANN G & GO
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Results RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.)
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348 Herwart Böhm (Hrsg.) (2011) Op
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