The effect of environment and stage of the oestrous cycle on the behaviour of dairy cows

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Abstract In a series of four experiments, the changes over the perioestrous period in oestrus, and other behaviours in pasture, cubicle, and straw yard environments were examined. In Experiment 1, which was conducted in a cubicle environment, only standing-to-be-mounted behaviour was confined to the day of oestrus. Changes in time spent lying or standing in the cubicle or in the feeding passage were not significantly affected by oestrus, but standing in the cubicle passage was increased on the day of oestrus. In Experiment 2 there was no significant difference in the oestrous behaviour of cows at pasture day and night, or cows at pasture during the day and in a cubicle house at night. In both treatments lying time was reduced on the day of oestrus, but there was no compensatory increase on the day after oestrus. In Experiment 3 cows in a straw yard tended to show an increased incidence of most oestrus-related behaviours on the day of oestrus compared with cows in a cubicle house. Also in contrast to cows in the cubicle house, cows in the straw yard reduced lying time and increased standing time on the day of oestrus, and compensated for these changes by increasing lying time and reducing standing time on the day after oestrus. Feeding time was increased for these cows on the day before oestrus and reduced on the day of oestrus and the day after oestrus. In Experiment 4 the behaviour of paired cows that were either in oestrus or not in oestrus was observed in a small pen. Oestrous cows displayed standing-to-be-mounted behaviour with both oestrous and non-oestrous cows. Mounting activity by an oestrous cow on a non-oestrous cow was not successful. Over the series of experiments it was found that sniffing and licking the anogenital area and chin-resting activities were less predictive of oestrus than mounting, as they were sometimes performed in the non-oestrous state. Aggression tended to be confined to oestrous cows in the grazing or housed environment but in the confined pen was displayed by non-oestrous cows.