Competition Strategies of Metritic and Healthy Transition Cows.

Borbala Foris,Marina A G Von Keyserlingk,Daniel M Weary

doi:10.3390/ani10050854

Borbala Foris, Marina A G Von Keyserlingk + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10050854

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Abstract

Simple SummaryCompetition for feed is a social stressor for dairy cows and is associated with an increased risk of illness. We investigated how cows trade off the motivation to feed together with group mates against the risk of competitive interactions at the feeder, and in this way identified each individual’s competition strategy. We then related these strategies to cow health. Competition strategies varied between cows and showed low to moderate stability over time. Strategies of metritic and healthy cows did not differ before or after calving, but metritic cows changed strategies more upon entering the social group after calving, particularly in the days before diagnosis. We conclude that cows show individual competition strategies, and that automated measures of strategy change may help in detecting metritis.Our study aimed to characterize social competition strategies in transition cows, and determine how these varied with health status. We retrospectively followed 52 cows during 3 periods (PRE: d −6 to −1 prepartum, POST1: d 1 to 3 postpartum, POST2: d 4 to 6 postpartum). Cows diagnosed with metritis on d 6 postpartum (n = 26) were match paired with healthy cows (n = 26). Measures of agonistic behavior (i.e., replacements at the feeder) and feeding synchrony were determined by an algorithm based on electronic feed bin data, and used to calculate competition strategies via principal component analysis. We found consistent strategies, defined by two components (asynchrony and competitiveness; explaining 82% of the total variance). We observed no differences in strategies when comparing healthy and metritic cows, but metritic cows tended to change their strategies more between PRE and POST1, and between POST1 and POST2, indicating that strategies change in association with parturition and metritis. We conclude that cows show individual variation in competition strategies, and that automated measures of strategy change may help in detecting metritis.

Highlights

There is growing evidence that social behavior during the transition period can predict the risk of illness [1,2,3]
Our aims were to characterize social competition strategies based on measures of agonistic behavior and behavioral synchrony at the feed bunk, to test if healthy and metritic cows exhibit different strategies, and to determine if these strategies change during the transition period
Using the rotated components (RC) scores, we investigated if healthy and metritic cows differed in social competition strategies during PRE, POST1, and POST2 periods

Summary

Introduction

There is growing evidence that social behavior during the transition period can predict the risk of illness [1,2,3]. Cows are motivated to feed together with conspecifics [6,7], meaning that behavioral synchrony impacts feeding behavior, which in turn affects competition at the feed bunk when feed availability or feeding space is limited [8]. Some have argued that increased feeding synchrony indicates reduced competitiveness and positive welfare, especially for lower ranking cows [7,9,10]. In indoor housing systems, agonistic interactions at the feed bunk are frequent [11], especially when the feeding space is limited [12]. These results suggest that there is a tradeoff between the motivation to engage in synchronized feeding and the risk of agonistic interactions

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