Susanne Waiblinger

Heart rate variability in dairy cows—influences of breed and milking system

Heart rate variability parameters in the time, frequency and nonlinear domains were investigated in two breeds of dairy cows (Austrian Simmental and Brown Swiss) milked either in an automatic milking system with partially forced cow traffic or in a herringbone milking parlour. Recordings were made of 24 cows (six of each breed and milking system) during lying, standing idle, and standing being milked, and analysed with linear mixed effects models taking the covariates time of day, live body weight, milk yield, stage of lactation and stage of pregnancy into account. Heart rate and nonlinear deterministic shares were higher, and heart rate variability in the time and frequency domains was lower, later in the day, in cows with higher body weight and in Simmental compared to Brown Swiss cows. Differences in the linear and nonlinear domains during lying indicated an increased level of chronic stress in cows in the automatic milking system with partially forced cow traffic, compared to cows milked in the herringbone milking parlour. No effects of milking system were found during milking, indicating that the stressor in the automatic milking system was not the milking process itself.

Influence of Herd Size on Human—Cow Relationships

Large herds pose the risk of worsening human—cattle relationships by reducing human contact and thus increasing the risk of accidents. In a survey on 35 dairy farms in Switzerland and Germany, diff...

Stability of fear and sociality in two strains of laying hens.

1. This trial studied the effects of strain and age on tonic immobility (TI) duration, emergence time (ET) and social reinstatement time (SRT) in laying hens and investigated the consistency of individual behavioural characteristics over rearing and laying periods and the correlations between these behavioural traits. 2. One hundred chicks from each of ISA Brown (ISA) and Lohmann Tradition (LT) laying hens were reared from one day old in pens. At 3 weeks, birds of each line were divided into 4 groups. Twenty birds in one group of each line were marked individually for repeated testing and the other groups were assigned for single testing to test the habituation effect and possible age effects at a group level. 3. ISA birds had higher overall means for TI duration and latency to leave the start box. ISA also showed longer latency in SRT at week 28 than Lohmanns. TI duration increased from weeks 3 to 10 and then decreased to week 35 in both lines. The latency to explore the test area and to reinstate decreased from weeks 10 to 35. 4. Tonic immobility, exploratory and social reinstatement behaviours were consistent over time in both lines, as revealed by Kendalls W coefficient of concordance. 5. In social test situations, an inter-situational consistency was found, that is, birds emerged quickly from the start box and reinstated quickly with their companion. TI (non-social test) was negatively correlated with ET and SRT. Thus the two lines of laying hens respond differently in social and non-social tests.

Introducing young dairy goats into the adult herd after parturition reduces social stress

The aim of this experiment was to compare social stress, as measured by social behavior and adrenocortical activity, in young dairy goats during the first week after introduction into a herd of adult goats either during the dry period of the herd (i.e., all goats in the herd being pregnant or dry: PD) or shortly after parturition (i.e., all animals lactating or with their kids: LK). Thirty-two young goats that had had no contact with adult goats from the age of 7 wk were introduced into adult goat groups. Adult goats were kept in 2 groups of 36 animals each. Young goats were introduced (in groups of 4 animals each) into each of these 2 groups either during the PD period (2 repetitions) or during LK (2 repetitions); goats with different rearing experience were balanced over introduction periods. Young goats were more often receivers of agonistic social interactions when introduced during PD than during LK. Irrespective of the period of introduction, young goats had other young goats as neighbors more frequently than expected by chance alone, although this was even more distinct during PD. Cortisol metabolite levels increased markedly from baseline during PD, but not after parturition. Rearing showed an effect only on the nearest neighbors, with mother-reared young goats staying closer together. Our results indicate that young goats experience less social stress when being introduced into a herd of adult dairy goats shortly after parturition and with kids still present rather than during the dry period. Whether this effect is due to the period and lactational stage itself or to the presence of kids needs to be tested in future studies.

Clinical parameters and adrenocortical activity to assess stress responses of alpacas using different methods of restraint either alone or with shearing

Shearing of alpacas is stressful and is undertaken by restraint in the standing position, cast on the floor or on a tilt table. The objectives of the study were to evaluate and compare the stress responses between different methods. The study consisted of two parts. In part one, 15 animals were restrained applying all three methods but without shearing. In part two, 45 animals in three groups of 15 were shorn using one of the three procedures. Body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, salivary cortisol and faecal cortisol metabolites (FCM) were measured. Part 1: restraint in a standing position was less stressful than other procedures. Part 2: the classic clinical parameters changed significantly over time but without significant differences between the methods. The number of injuries did not differ. Saliva cortisol and FCM concentrations varied in wide ranges between animals. An increase in FCM concentrations occurred in all groups but saliva cortisol concentration increased only after shearing on the ground. The recommendations of the study are to shear calm alpacas in the standing position but animals showing severe defence reactions should be shorn either cast on the ground or on a table to decrease the risk of injuries.