Behaviour of dairy cows kept in extensive (loose housing/pasture) or intensive (tie stall) environments. III. Grooming, exploration and abnormal behaviour

Abstract

Twenty-four pairs of monozygotic twin dairy cows (Danish Friesian and Red Danish) were assigned to four groups of 12 in a balanced incomplete block design. Group E: loose housing, free access to feeding table, deep bedding, a yard and pasture, milking twice a day. Group N: tie stall, concrete floor plus 1 kg straw, milking twice a day, no exercise. Group I: tie stall, rubber mats plus 2 kg straw, milking four times a day, no exercise. Group IE: as group I, except for 1 h daily exercise. The aim of this experiment was to compare allo-and self-grooming, exploration and abnormal behaviour (bar-biting, tongue-rolling, leaning) in an extensive environment and in tie-stalls, and to compare the behaviour in tie-stalls with and without the possibility of daily exercise. The total frequencies of social sniffing and licking were lower in group E compared with the tethered groups. Within the tethered groups, the frequencies of sniffing and licking were significantly lower in group IE. The frequency of self-grooming was lower in group E than in the three tethered groups. In cows of all groups, licking of the back and sides of the body constituted 40–45% of all grooming behaviour. When tethered, the cows directed only 30–32% of all licking behaviour against the hindquarters, whereas this behaviour pattern increased to 56% in the yard (group IE). The frequencies of all types of exploratory behaviours (sniffing and licking the equipment or the ground) were 2–3 times higher in the tie-stall than in loose housing systems. In group IE, sniffing the equipment and the ground was twice as high per hour in the yard than in the stable, while the frequency of licking the equipment was more than five times higher in the yard. The frequency of leaning against equipment was higher in the tie-stall than in group E and performed by 57–64% of the cows in the tie-stall. Permanent tethering of dairy cows seems to change the normal activity pattern and increase leaning behaviour. Daily exercise in a yard increased the frequencies of normal social behaviour, self-grooming and investigative behaviour, and decreased bar-biting, and therefore indicates some deprivation in permanently tethered cows.