Mac Sarah E, Lomax Sabrina, Clark Cameron E F
Livestock Production and Welfare Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia.
Anim Biosci. 2023 May;36(5):810-817. doi: 10.5713/ab.22.0257. Epub 2022 Nov 14.
The aim was to compare the behavioral response to full separation of cows and calves maintained together for 100 days or 24 h.
Twelve Holstein-Friesian cow-calf pairs were enrolled into either treatment or industry groups (n = 6 cow-calf pairs/group). The treatment cows and calves were maintained on pasture together for 106±8.6 d and temporarily separated twice a day for milking. The Industry cows and their calves, were separated within 24 h postpartum. Triaxial accelerometer neck-mounted sensors were fitted to cows 3 weeks before separation to measure hourly rumination and activity. Before separation, cow and calf behavior was observed by scan sampling for 15 min. During the separation process, frequency of vocalizations and turn arounds were recorded. At separation, cows were moved to an observation pen where behavior was recorded for 3 d. A CCTV camera was used to record video footage of cows within the observation pens and behavior was documented from the videos in 15 min intervals across the 3 d.
Before separation, industry calves were more likely to be near their mother than Treatment calves. During the separation process, vocalization and turn around behavior was similar between groups. After full separation, treatment cows vocalized three times more than industry cows. However, the frequency of time spent close to barrier, standing, lying, walking, and eating were similar between industry and treatment cows. Treatment cows had greater rumination duration, and were more active, than industry cows.
These findings suggest a similar behavioral response to full calf separation and greater occurrence of vocalizations, from cows maintained in a long-term, pasture-based, cow-calf rearing system when compared to cows separated within 24 h. However, further work is required to assess the impact of full separation on calf behavior.
比较共同饲养100天或24小时的奶牛与小牛完全分离后的行为反应。
将12对荷斯坦-弗里生奶牛-小牛对纳入治疗组或行业组（每组6对奶牛-小牛对）。治疗组的奶牛和小牛在牧场共同饲养106±8.6天，每天临时分开两次进行挤奶。行业组的奶牛及其小牛在产后24小时内分开。在分离前3周，给奶牛佩戴三轴加速度计颈部传感器，以测量每小时的反刍和活动情况。在分离前，通过扫描抽样观察奶牛和小牛的行为15分钟。在分离过程中，记录发声频率和转身次数。分离时，将奶牛转移到观察栏，在那里记录其行为3天。使用闭路电视摄像机记录观察栏内奶牛的视频 footage，在3天内每隔15分钟从视频中记录行为。
分离前，行业组的小牛比治疗组的小牛更靠近其母亲。在分离过程中，两组之间的发声和转身行为相似。完全分离后，治疗组的奶牛发声次数比行业组的奶牛多两倍。然而，行业组和治疗组的奶牛靠近围栏、站立、躺卧、行走和进食的时间频率相似。治疗组的奶牛反刍持续时间更长，且比行业组的奶牛更活跃。
这些发现表明，与在24小时内分离的奶牛相比，长期采用基于牧场的奶牛-小牛饲养系统饲养的奶牛在小牛完全分离时的行为反应相似，但发声次数更多。然而，需要进一步开展工作来评估完全分离对小牛行为的影响。
