Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be

Janine Aschwanden presents Oral paper 12
In session 2: Assessing emotional state and human-animal relations
Thursday, 11 September 2008 from 15h45-16h00 in the Aula chaired by Susanne Waiblinger
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Oral paper 12
INFLUENCE OF THE FEEDING DISTANCE AND SOCIAL SEPARATION
ON CARDIAC ACTIVITY IN DOMESTIC GOATS
J. Aschwanden, L. Gygax, B. Wechsler, N.M. Keil
Federal Veterinary Office, Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Agroscope Reckenholz-
Tänikon Research Station ART, Ettenhausen, Switzerland
Heart-rate variability is increasingly used to assess stress in farm animals. In this study we
investigated whether cardiac activity in terms of heart rate (HR) and root mean square of successive
beat-to-beat differences (RMSSD) is influenced in domestic goats by rank within the group, feeding
distance and social separation.
HR and RMSSD were recorded in five goat pairs each of eight different groups with known rank
relationships while feeding side-by-side at two hayracks positioned at a “far” (the pair‘s freely
chosen distance, known from a previous study) or a “near” (the pair’s minimum distance not
eliciting agonistic interactions) distance in an experimental pen away from the group. Baseline
values measured before the feeding tests as well as the differences between the baseline and test
values (Δ) in HR and RMSSD were analysed with linear mixed-effects models with crossed random
effects. Furthermore, Δ-values of HR and RMSSD obtained by measuring baseline prior to socialseparation
tests and test values during social separation carried out with the same individuals were
compared to the Δ-values of HR and RMSSD obtained in the feeding tests.
Goats with a high rank within the group had higher levels of baseline-RMSSD and lower levels of
HR than goats with a low rank within the group (p