J.T.N. van der Werf

Heart rate and heart rate variability during a novel object test and a handling test in young horses.

Forty-one Dutch Warmblood immature horses were used in a study to quantify temperamental traits on the basis of heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measures. Half of the horses received additional training from the age of 5 months onwards; the other half did not. Horses were tested at 9, 10, 21 and 22 months of age in a novel object and a handling test. During the tests, mean HR and two heart variability indices, e.g. standard deviation of beat-to-beat intervals (SDRR) and root mean square of successive beat-to-beat differences (rMSSD), were calculated and expressed as response values to baseline measures. In both tests, horses showed at all ages a significant increase in mean HR and decrease in HRV measures, which suggests a marked shift of the balance of the autonomic nervous system towards a sympathetic dominance. In the novel object test, this shift was more pronounced in horses that had not been trained. Furthermore, statistical analysis showed that the increase in mean HR could not be entirely explained by the physical activity. The additional increase in HR, the nonmotor HR, was more pronounced in the untrained horses compared to the trained. Hence, it is suggested that this nonmotor HR might be due to the level of emotionality. HR variables showed consistency between years, as well as within the second year. These tests bring about a HR response in horses, part of which may indicate a higher level of emotionality; and horses show individual consistency of these HR variables over ages. Therefore, it is concluded that mean HR and HRV measures used with these tests quantify certain aspects of a horses temperament.

Applicability of day-to-day variation in behavior for the automated detection of lameness in dairy cows

Lameness is a major problem in modern dairy husbandry and has welfare implications and other negative consequences. The behavior of dairy cows is influenced by lameness. Automated lameness detection can, among other methods, be based on day-to-day variation in animal behavior. Activity sensors that measure lying time, number of lying bouts, and other parameters were used to record behavior per cow per day. The objective of this research was to develop and validate a lameness detection model based on daily activity data. Besides the activity data, milking data and data from the computerized concentrate feeders were available as input data. Locomotion scores were available as reference data. Data from up to 100 cows collected at an experimental farm during 23 mo in 2010 and 2011 were available for model development. Behavior is cow-dependent, and therefore quadratic trend models were fitted with a dynamic linear model on-line per cow for 7 activity variables and 2 other variables (milk yield per day and concentrate leftovers per day). It is assumed that lameness develops gradually; therefore, a lameness alert was given when the linear trend in 2 or more of the 9 models differed significantly from zero in a direction that corresponded with lameness symptoms. The developed model was validated during the first 4 mo of 2012 with almost 100 cows on the same farm by generating lameness alerts each week. Performance on the model validation data set was comparable with performance on the model development data set. The overall sensitivity (percentage of detected lameness cases) was 85.5% combined with specificity (percentage of nonlame cow-days that were not alerted) of 88.8%. All variables contributed to this performance. These results indicate that automated lameness detection based on day-to-day variation in behavior is a useful tool for dairy management.

Restraining and neck cutting or stunning and neck cutting of veal calves.

Brain and heart activities were measured in 31 veal calves during restraining and rotating followed by neck cutting with or without stunning to evaluate welfare. After neck cutting correlation dimension analyses and %power of EEG beta wave fraction decreased gradually to lower values resulting in an induction of unconsciousness lasting on average 80s. Corneal reflex response ceased 135±57s after neck cutting. The CD scores and the %power of beta waves fell immediately after post-cut captive bolt and pre-cut electrical stunning to levels indicating unconsciousness. Heart rate in lairage increased upon entrance to the restrainer and again after rotation, heart rate variability decreased. Rotating the restrainer 90°, 120° or 180° compromised veal calf welfare and should be avoided. It is recommended to use post-cut captive bolt stunning or pre-cut electrical stunning inducing immediate unconsciousness.

Effects of flooring and restricted freestall access on behavior and claw health of dairy heifers

Claw health, locomotion, feed intake, milk yield, body weight, activity, and lying and standing behavior of dairy heifers were monitored in a single dairy herd during the first 3 mo after calving. During the first 8 wk after calving, 2 treatments were applied: restricted freestall access by closing the stalls between 2300 h and 0500 h (yes or no) and alley flooring (concrete or rubber topped slatted floors). Apart from treatments, housing was identical. The animals were kept in small groups (n=4 to 6) in adjacent barn pens. Thereafter, the animals were kept in 1 group in a freestall section with concrete slatted floor and unrestricted access to the stalls for 5 wk. All animals were fed the same partial mixed ration. We hypothesized that (1) hard flooring causes high mechanical load of the claws and (2) restricted freestall access causes prolonged standing bouts and reinforced effects of hard flooring on claws. The heifers had only minor claw lesions before first calving, and the prevalence and severity of sole hemorrhages increased during the first 3 mo after calving (from 0.24 ± 0.08 to 1.18 ± 0.14 and from 0.04 ± 0.01 to 0.24 ± 0.02, respectively), particularly in the outer hind claws. Animals kept on rubber alley flooring had lower average hemorrhage scores in wk 9 (0.13 ± 0.03 vs. 0.21 ± 0.03) and wk 14 (0.20 ± 0.03 vs. 0.27 ± 0.03) after calving, had a slower feed intake (3.05 ± 0.14 vs. 3.46 ± 0.14 g/s) and spent more time feeding (7.3 ± 0.3 vs. 6.6 ± 0.3 min/h) than animals kept on hard concrete alley floors. Restricted freestall access resulted in fewer standing bouts per day (14.4 ± 1.0 vs. 17.9 ± 1.0) and more strides per hour (99.8 ± 5.4 vs. 87.2 ± 5.4) without changing overall standing time (15.0 ± 0.3 vs. 14.7 ± 0.3 h/d) and did not affect the occurrence of sole hemorrhages. The animals with no overnight freestall access spent more time standing (55.9 ± 0.9 vs. 35.8 ± 0.9 min/h) and feeding (7.8 ± 0.3 vs. 4.3 ± 0.3 min/h) between 2300 and 0500 h and less during the rest of the 24-h period (31.3 ± 0.8 vs. 37.0 ± 0.8 min/h and 6.8 ± 0.3 vs. 7.6 ± 0.3 min/h). Thus, the animals adapted to restricted freestall access, that caused increased overnight standing, by additional lying down during the day and used part of the extra standing time at night for feeding. The restrictions probably had only a minor effect on the mechanical load of their claws. Therefore, the first part of the hypothesis was confirmed and the second part was rejected.

Questionnaire survey of disease prevalence and veterinary treatments in organic pig husbandry in the Netherlands.

DISEASE prevalence and veterinary treatments in organic animal production differ from conventional systems. According to the European Commission (EC) regulation on organic agricultural production (EC 2004), disease prevention is based on the principles that the feeding, housing and care of the animals should limit animal health problems so that they can be controlled mainly by prevention. If, despite these preventive measurements, treatment should be necessary, phytotherapeutic and homeopathic products should be used in preference to chemically synthesised allopathic veterinary medicinal products, provided they are therapeutically effective. Chemotherapeutics may be used under the responsibility of a veterinarian, and their use must be clearly recorded. The number of chemotherapeutic treatments allowed in organic animal production is limited, except for the use of vaccines and antiparasitics, and the use of chemotherapeutics for preventive treatments is prohibited. The restrictive use of chemotherapeutics, combined with access to pasture and a closer contact with wildlife, may have an impact on animal health and welfare. Although different production systems and national disease situations may affect the health situations in organic pig production, surveys in the UK, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands indicate that endoand ectoparasites are a common and major problem in organic pig production (Nansen and Roepstorff 1999, Baumgartner and others 2001, Carstensen and others 2002, Day and others 2003, Hovi and others 2003). Physical injuries causing lameness, skin traumas and sunburn are the most common clinical findings in sows, and in slaughter pigs various herd-specific disease problems occur (Vaarst and others 2000). In Austria, a high prevalence of contagious diseases (leptospirosis, parvovirus and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) has been observed, in addition to actinomycosis of the udder and diarrhoea in piglets (Baumgartner and others 2001). In Sweden, erysipelas is the most commonly observed disease in fattening pigs, while in France, the main diseases are neonatal and weaning diarrhoea in piglets, respiratory tract infections in slaughter pigs and urogenital infections in sows (Bénnéteau 2001). This short communication describes a study in which a questionnaire was used to gather information about diseases and practices in the use of medication to treat diseases in organic pig husbandry in the Netherlands. In spring 2003, in order to gather information about practises for disease prevalence and veterinary treatment, organic pig producers in the Netherlands were contacted. If a farm had at least 10 sows or 60 fattening pigs, the pigs were kept for commercial purposes, the farm was not a research, governmental or part-government funded centre, the farm was certificated by Skal (the inspection organisation for organic production methods in the Netherlands) in 2002, there was no poultry on the farm (in relation to the avian influenza situation in the Netherlands at that time), and the farmer agreed to cooperate, a questionnaire was sent to the premises. The questions in the questionnaire related to housing, health and veterinary treatments in 2002. A few days after the questionnaire was sent, the farm was visited to go through the completed questionnaire and to check the practises on the farm. Of the 91 organic pig farmers who were contacted, 60 fulfilled the criteria for participation in the survey; of these, 37 (62 per cent) agreed to participate. They filled in and returned the questionnaire and the farms were visited. At 30 of the 37 farms (81 per cent) there was another agrarian or non-agrarian income in addition to pig production. Twenty-one of the 37 farms (57 per cent) became SKAL certified in 2002, while the other 16 farms had been certified by SKAL for an average of 3·8 (range 1·1 to 9·0) years. All farms participated in and were certified by the Integrated Chain Control (IKB), the quality system of the Dutch meat industry. On all the farms, some form of biosecurity was employed, such as separate clean and non-clean zones (14 farms), biosecurity facilities (28 farms), the use of separate clothes and boots before entering the pig houses (36 farms), the use of disinfection mats (29 farms), and the registration of visitors (all farms). All the farms were members of an animal health service. Seven farms had breeding sows with, on average, 141 (range 45 to 350) sows and 565 (range 100 to 1200) piglets, 12 farms had fattening pigs with, on average, 228 (range 65 to 589) animals, and 18 farms had breeding sows and fattening pigs with, on average, 64 (range 15 to 150) sows, 229 (range 65 to 500) piglets and 359 (range 60 to 750) fattening pigs. On 19 of the 25 farms with breeding sows, the sows had access to a grazing area, and on the other six farms there were outdoor runs with concrete floors. On all 12 farms with fattening pigs there were partially covered outdoor runs with concrete floors. A large variety of pig breeds were used on all the farms. On the 25 farms with breeding sows, the sows were either organic and Veterinary Record (2006) 159, 816-818

Indicators of resilience during the transition period in dairy cows: A case study

The transition period is a demanding phase in the life of dairy cows. Metabolic and infectious disorders frequently occur in the first weeks after calving. To identify cows that are less able to cope with the transition period, physiologic or behavioral signals acquired with sensors might be useful. However, it is not yet clear which signals or combination of signals and which signal properties are most informative with respect to disease severity after calving. Sensor data on activity and behavior measurements as well as rumen and ear temperature data from 22 dairy cows were collected during a period starting 2 wk before expected parturition until 6 wk after parturition. During this period, the health status of each cow was clinically scored daily. A total deficit score (TDS) was calculated based on the clinical assessment, summarizing disease length and intensity for each cow. Different sensor data properties recorded during the period before calving as well as the period after calving were tested as a predictor for TDS using univariate analysis of covariance. To select the model with the best combination of signals and signal properties, we quantified the prediction accuracy for TDS in a multivariate model. Prediction accuracy for TDS increased when sensors were combined, using static and dynamic signal properties. Statistically, the most optimal linear combination of predictors consisted of average eating time, variance of daily ear temperature, and regularity of daily behavior patterns in the dry period. Our research indicates that a combination of static and dynamic sensor data properties could be used as indicators of cow resilience.

Loading density and welfare of goat kids during long distance road transport

Many goat kids (Capra aegagrus hircus) are transported live from The Netherlands for slaughter in France or Spain. Current standards indicate that goats (<35 kg) should have sufficient space at 0.2–0.30 m2 per animal (approximately 5 goats per m2). Research was devised to assess behaviour and physiological responses of goat kids transported at different space allowances. After weaning, goat kids were fed milk for six weeks using a lambar-type feeder and then transported to Spain circa 1,400 km). These kids (8–10 kg, maximum eight weeks old) were transported at space allowances of 0.2, 0.13 and 0.1 m2 per animal (ie loading densities 5, 7.5 or 10 animals per m2, respectively) in three journeys. Before loading and upon arrival, six goats per compartment were weighed, blood sampled and had rectal temperature measured. Three goats per compartment were equipped with ECG loggers. On average, kids lost approximately 4% in bodyweight and rectal temperature fell 0.2°C during 20 h transport. Heart rate ranged between 100–190 bpm irrespective of loading density during actual transport. All animals stood at the beginning but were never all recumbent independent of loading density. Kids tended to huddle together at lower loading densities. High loading density restricted movement. Blood concentrations of haemoglobin and haematocrit increased, as did osmolality indicating dehydration. It is recommended that water be supplied using a drinking system to which animals are accustomed. Since movement was restricted it is recommended that kids be transported at nine animals per m2 (maximum).