Abstract
BackgroundCow rumination and lying behaviour are potentially useful and interrelated indicators of cow health and welfare but there is conflicting evidence about how reliable these measures are. The objective of this study was to quantify the variation of indices of cow comfort and rumen health in a herd with an automatic milking system for which husbandry was relatively constant, in order to propose an alternative approach to optimising the use of these indices when continuous monitoring is not available. During a period of 28 days, standing index, cud chewing index and rumination index were observed.ResultsThe daily mean standing index ranged between 9.0 and 18.0 per cent, cud chewing index between 43.5 and 74.0 per cent, and rumination index between 49.0 and 81.0 per cent. The point of lowest variation in the indices was determined as that with the lowest coefficient of variation. The coefficient of variation was lowest for data collected between 240 and 270 minutes after refreshing of the bedding material on the cubicles for both the standing index and rumination index, and for data collected between 120 and 150 minutes after refreshing of the bedding material on the cubicles for the cud chewing index.ConclusionsIn spite of relative constant husbandry practices in a herd with an automatic milking system, the variation in the standing index, cud chewing index and rumination index was still considerable. This suggests these measures should be repeated on several consecutive days, according to population size and wanted margin of error, to be representative and useful.
Highlights
Cow rumination and lying behaviour are potentially useful and interrelated indicators of cow health and welfare but there is conflicting evidence about how reliable these measures are
This paper presents a more robust statistical approach, the calculation of the coefficient of variation, for establishing the time-point with lowest variation in these indices for a herd managed under relatively constant conditions and milked with an automatic milking systems (AMS)
Due to failure of the pH bolus, two cows were excluded from the data analysis for the subsample which was constituted by the cows with a pH bolus and rumination collar
Summary
Cow rumination and lying behaviour are potentially useful and interrelated indicators of cow health and welfare but there is conflicting evidence about how reliable these measures are. The objective of this study was to quantify the variation of indices of cow comfort and rumen health in a herd with an automatic milking system for which husbandry was relatively constant, in order to propose an alternative approach to optimising the use of these indices when continuous monitoring is not available. Resting behaviour and rumination are a prerequisite and indicator of good cow health and welfare. The standing index (SI), cud chewing index (CudCI) and rumination index (RI) are three measures that have been considered for the monitoring of animal welfare, production and disease [1,2,3]. Overton et al [6] have suggested that a CCI greater than 85 per cent at approximately one hour after the cows return from the early morning
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