Lying synchronization in fattening cattle at different space allowances

Abstract

Lying synchronization is an important characteristic of the natural behavior in cattle. The guideline for the housing of fattening cattle published in 2018 in Lower Saxony, Germany, requests for the first time that the lying area should be large enough to enable all animals to lie down simultaneously. However, up to now, lying synchrony in fattening cattle has only been scientifically analyzed to a small extent and detailed data on lying space requirements of fattening bulls are lacking altogether. Therefore, this study aimed at analyzing the lying synchronization level in fattening bulls housed at different space allowances as well as at examining whether simultaneous lying of all animals per pen occurs. For this purpose, the lying behavior of 41 fattening bulls weighing more than 450 kg was analyzed. The cattle were housed in groups of 6-8 animals in slatted pens with rubber mats covering the slats either completely or in the back part of the pen. The pens were divided into 3 space allowance groups (A: 3.1-3.5 m2 [n = 2], B: 4.0-4.2 m2 [n = 2], C: 6.7 m2 [n = 2]). The lying time of all individuals was analyzed via video recordings during 2 consecutive light periods (17 h in total). On average, the animals in the different space allowance groups spent 5 h 30 min to 9 h 6 min lying during the 2 light periods. In one pen of both groups A and B each, simultaneous lying of all animals never occurred during the observation period. In the remaining pens, it occurred during a time range of 27 min to 4 h. A minimum of 80 % of the animals were lying simultaneously in all pens during a period ranging from 1 h 30 min to 7 h 13 min. At in practice commonly provided space allowances between 3.1 m2 and 4.2 m2 , simultaneous lying of all animals per pen did not occur in a subset of pens. Time periods with all but 1 or 2 animals lying or animals lying down directly after another individual regained standing position indicate the attempt of the group's individuals to synchronize their lying behavior. However, these attempts appear to be restricted by limited lying area size. The presented results emphasize the necessity of further studies regarding the space requirements of fattening cattle for lying in order to define the space allowance required for simultaneous lying of all animals.