Interactions between housed dairy cows during feeding, lying, and standing.

摘要

Three experiments examined the extent of behavioural interactions between housed dairy cows. In Experiment 1, 6 different cows were selected every other day from a dairy herd and allocated to 3 pairs for recording of feeding, standing, lying, and leg-raising behaviours. There was no difference in the between-pair and within-pair coefficients of variation for the behaviours, suggesting that the performance of these behaviours was independent of influences of other cows. Experiment 2 used 9 pairs of cows in a 3-period changeover design. The same behaviours were recorded as in Experiment 1, and data were used only from the last 2 periods, which ensured that cows had been together previously for at least one 48-hour period. There were again no differences in the between- and within-pair coefficients of variation when using behaviours as replicates, either for the first 2 hours, during which time no treatments had been applied, or the entire 4 hours, when some cows had been prevented from lying down and feeding. Experiment 3 investigated the consistency of between-cow associations for repeated observations of feeding, lying, and entering the milking parlour. Although there was evidence of a similar order of entry into the milking parlour between days, the number of feeding associations was similar to that predicted by a model of random behaviour, and the pattern of lying associations also suggested a random pattern of associations. Across behaviours, cows were observed with specific partners more often than expected by chance. Thus although there was no evidence of interdependence of feeding, lying, or standing behaviour, consistent associations were observed, particularly in parlour entry.