Dairy cows seek isolation at calving and when ill

Abstract

Dairy cows are typically gregarious, but isolate themselves in the hours before calving when kept on pasture. Self-isolation is also a common behavior of ill animals. The objectives of this study were to determine if dairy cows would (1) isolate to calve when housed indoors in an individual maternity pen and (2) continue to isolate when ill after calving. We selected individuals from a pool of 79 multiparous Holstein dairy cows based on inclusion criteria created to address each objective. Cows were moved from a group pen to 1 of 10 adjacent maternity pens. Half of these individual pens were partially covered with plywood, creating a secluded corner as well as a window that provided visual access to the group pen. The other individual pens were uncovered on all sides. For our first objective, we selected 39 cows that were moved into the maternity pens >8h before calving (partially covered: n=19; uncovered: n=20). For our second objective, we selected 18 cows housed in the partially covered pens: 9 cows with high rectal temperature after calving and signs of an infectious disease (mastitis, metritis, pneumonia, or some combination), and 9 healthy cows paired with ill cows based on the amount of time they spent in the maternity pen before calving. Ten-minute scan sampling was used to record the location and lying time from 6h before to 72h after calving. Individual feed intake was measured after calving. Binomial tests were used to determine if cows in both pen types were more likely to calve in the corner or window side of the pen. Repeated-measures ANOVA were used to determine if cows used the corner more as calving approached and if ill cows spent more time lying or more time in the corner compared with healthy cows in the 72h after calving. Cows in the uncovered pens were equally likely to calve on both sides of the pen (10 vs. 10), but 79% of cows in the partially covered pens calved on the corner side of the pen (15 vs. 4). Cows in the partially covered pens used the corner side of the pen more in the 1h before and after calving compared with those housed in the uncovered pens. Ill cows housed in the partially covered pens ate less, tended to spend more time lying down, and spent more time in the corner of the pen compared with healthy cows. These results indicate that periparturient dairy cows seek seclusion to calve and when ill, which suggests that adding a secluded area to maternity and hospital pens may be beneficial.