How to measure dairy cows’ responsiveness towards humans in breeding and welfare assessment? A comparison of selected behavioural measures and existing breeding traits

Genomic Selection for Dairy Cattle Behaviour Considering Novel Traits in a Changing Technical Production Environment

Cow behaviour is a major factor influencing dairy herd profitability and is an indicator of animal welfare and disease. Behaviour is a complex network of behavioural patterns in response to environmental and social stimuli and human handling. Advances in agricultural technology have led to changes in dairy cow husbandry systems worldwide. Increasing herd sizes, less time availability to take care of the animals and modern technology such as automatic milking systems (AMSs) imply limited human-cow interactions. On the other hand, cow behaviour responses to the technical environment (cow-AMS interactions) simultaneously improve production efficiency and welfare and contribute to simplified "cow handling" and reduced labour time. Automatic milking systems generate objective behaviour traits linked to workability, milkability and health, which can be implemented into genomic selection tools. However, there is insufficient understanding of the genetic mechanisms influencing cow learning and social behaviour, in turn affecting herd management, productivity and welfare. Moreover, physiological and molecular biomarkers such as heart rate, neurotransmitters and hormones might be useful indicators and predictors of cow behaviour. This review gives an overview of published behaviour studies in dairy cows in the context of genetics and genomics and discusses possibilities for breeding approaches to achieve desired behaviour in a technical production environment.

Associations between Dairy Herds' Qualitative Behavior and Aspects of Herd Health, Stockperson and Farm Factors-A Cross-Sectional Exploration

The affective state is an integrated aspect of farm animal welfare, which is understood as the animals' perception of their living environment and of their internal biological functioning. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore animal-internal and external factors potentially influencing dairy cows' affective state. For this purpose, qualitative behavior assessments (QBA) describing the animals' body language were applied at herd level on 25 dairy farms. By means of principal component analysis (PCA), scores of PC1 (QBAscores) were determined for further analyses. From monthly milk recordings (MR) one year retrospectively, prevalences of udder and metabolic health impairments were calculated. Factors of housing, management, and human-animal contact were recorded via interviews and observations. A multivariable regression was calculated following a univariable preselection of factors. No associations were found between MR indicators and QBAscores. However, more positive QBAscores were associated with bedded cubicles or straw yards compared to raised cubicles, increased voluntary stockperson contact with the cows, and fixation of cows during main feeding times, the latter contributing to the explanatory model, but not being significant. These results underline the importance of lying comfort, positive human-animal relationship and reduction of competition during feeding for the well-being of dairy cows.

Avoidance Distance in Sheltered Cows and Its Association with Other Welfare Parameters

The human-animal relationship is an important welfare parameter in animal welfare assessment in cows, and the avoidance distance of cows to a stranger at the feed bunk is measured to assess this relationship. The assessment of the human-animal relationship in cow shelters in India, where old, unproductive, and abandoned cows are sheltered, is important to explore the welfare of cows in these shelters. The cows observed were of indigenous Indian breeds and breeds which were crosses between indigenous breeds and pure bred exotic cows. The human-animal contact in this context is of particular interest for welfare assessment as traditional Indian farming and sheltering systems involves regular close human-animal contact. In a cross-sectional study across 6 states, 54 cow shelters were visited and 30 cows in each shelter were randomly selected (1620 in total) for the assessment of avoidance distance and other cow-based (27 parameters) and resource-based (15 parameters) welfare parameters. Avoidance distance was assessed 1 h after morning feeding. Cows standing at the feeding manger were approached from the front at a rate of one step/s, starting 2 m away from the manger. The distance between the assessor's hand and the cow's head was estimated at the moment the cow moved away and turned its head, using a four-point scale (0, touched; 1, 0-50 cm; 2, 51-100 cm; and 3, >100 cm). The majority, 52%, of the cows allowed touch by the assessor and another 32% allowed approach within 50 cm, demonstrating tolerance, or even solicitation of close human-animal relationships by the cows. Avoidance distance increased with the proportion of cows with dirty hind limbs, tarsal joint swellings, and hair loss, and the extent of rumen fill. There was also evidence of reduced avoidance distances in cows with high levels of body condition score (BCS), dirty flanks, tarsal joint ulceration, carpal joint injuries, diarrhoea, hampered respiration, lesions on the body due to traumatic injuries, and body coat condition, probably as a result of moving difficulties. The avoidance distance was thus related to the health and welfare of the cows, providing a vital insight into the factors affecting human-animal contact in the shelters.

Human and farm influences on dairy cows´ responsiveness towards humans - a cross-sectional study

The human-animal relationship can have a major impact on cow welfare and stockpersons´ work safety and quality. This cross-sectional study investigated possible effects of stockperson and farm related factors on cows´ behaviour towards humans in different test situations on a range of farm types including farms with automatic milking system. On 32 dairy farms, cows´ avoidance distances (AD), tolerance to tactile interactions (TTI), behavioural reactions during and after release from restraint (RB) and expressive behaviour by means of qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) were recorded. Multiple regressions were calculated to analyse associations between the cows´ responses towards humans and factors of stockpersons´ attitudes, factors of human-animal contact and further herd and management characteristics. Positive attitudes towards cows were significantly associated with calmer cows in all test situations. Furthermore, different herd and management factors were related to individual variables of cows´ behaviour towards humans: for instance, the percentage of dehorned cows in the herd was associated with more fearful cows; the frequency of human-animal contact, manual feed provision, or selection for docility were associated with calmer cows. Explained variances were highest for the outcome variables AD and QBA. Directly or indirectly all factors remaining in the final models may be related to the amount and quality of human-animal contacts. Thus, the results suggest that on a broad range of different farm types a positive attitude and frequent human-animal contact can contribute to calmer cows in different interactions with humans in the barn.

Genetic parameters for longitudinal behavior and health indicator traits generated in automatic milking systems

Abstract. Genetic (co)variance components were estimated for alternative functional traits generated by automatic milking systems (AMSs), and reflecting dairy cow behavior and health. Data recording spanned a period of 30 days and included 70 700 observations (visits to the AMS) from 922 Holstein cows kept in three German farms. The three selected farms used the same type of AMS and specific selection gates allowing “natural cow behavior on a voluntary basis”. AMS traits used as behavior indicator traits were AMS visits per cow and day as binary traits, with a threshold for equal to or greater than three visits (VIS3) and equal to or greater than four visits (VIS4), knocking off the milking device with a threshold of at least one udder quarter, also as a binary trait (KO), milking duration of each AMS visit in minutes (DUR), average milk flow in kg min−1 (AMF), and the interval between two consecutive milkings (INT). Electrical conductivity (EC) of milk from each udder quarter and in total was used as a health indicator trait. For genetic analyses, in univariate and bivariate models, linear and generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) with a logit link function were applied to Gaussian distributed and binary traits, respectively. The heritability was 0.08 ± 0.03 for VIS3, 0.05 ± 0.05 for VIS4, 0.03 ± 0.03 for KO, 0.19 ± 0.07 for DUR, 0.25 ± 0.07 for AMF, and 0.07 ± 0.03 for INT. Heritabilities for EC varied between 0.37 ± 0.08 and 0.46 ± 0.09, depending on the udder quarter. On the genetic scale, an increased number of AMS visits (VIS3 and VIS4) were associated with an increase of KO (rg= 0.24 and rg= 0.55, respectively). From a genetic perspective, high-milk-yielding cows visited the AMS more often (rg= 0.49 for VIS3 and rg= 0.80 for VIS4), had a faster AMF (rg= 0.40), and shorter INT (rg= −0.51). When considering these traits as behavior indicator traits, selection of cows with desired temperament simultaneously increases milk yield. An increase of automatically and objectively recorded AMS traits with moderate heritabilities justifies modifications of dairy cattle breeding goals towards higher emphasis on behavioral traits, especially when developing specific robot indices. Nevertheless, ongoing research in this regard with a larger data is suggested in order to validate the results from the present pilot study.