Daily and seasonal patterns of lying and standing behaviour of dairy cows in a frestall barn
Contributo in Atti di convegno
Data di Pubblicazione:
2008
Citazione:
Daily and seasonal patterns of lying and standing behaviour of dairy cows
in a frestall barn / G. Provolo, E. Riva - In: Innovation Technology to Empower Safety, Health and Welfare in Agriculture and Agro-food SystemsDisco ottico. - Ragusa : Università degli Studi di Catania, 2008. - ISBN 9788890315114. (( convegno International Conference “Innovation Technology to Empower Safety, Health and Welfare in Agriculture and Agro-food Systems” tenutosi a Ragusa, Italy nel 2008.
Abstract:
To examine the influence of environmental parameters on animal behaviour, an experimental programme was set up at a farm where anomalous behaviour of cows had been previously
noted. The research was carried out in a free-stall barn (75 cows) where cow behaviour has been
recorded by a time lapsed video system from June 2004 untill June 2005.
This paper aims to investigate daily behaviour pattern in a herd and to examine cows’ response
to different environmental conditions through the analysis of the data related to four weeks in
different climatic conditions (August, October, December and January). The behaviour of cows
has been expressed through indices based on number of cows involved in different activities
(standing, lying, eating and drinking). Simultaneously temperature and humidity within the
cowshed have been recorded using dataloggers and Temperature Humidity Index (THI) has
been calculated.
The comparison of behaviour in different hours of the day shows a strong diurnal pattern, while
the behaviour at the same hours of different seasons highlight a significant difference only in
daylight hours, despite the difference in temperature. The behavioural indexes in summer and
autumn differ significantly only one hour in the day (3 pm) while THI values are widely
different (mean values of 73.26 and 62.17; standard deviation of 3.85 and 2.41, respectively for
the two periods).
The results obtained suggest that THI values are not sufficient to explain the influence of the
barn on cows’ behaviour.
Tipologia IRIS:
03 - Contributo in volume
Keywords:
THI ; animal behaviour ; dairy cow housing
Elenco autori:
G. Provolo, E. Riva
Link alla scheda completa:
Titolo del libro:
Innovation Technology to Empower Safety, Health and Welfare in Agriculture and Agro-food Systems