Xavier Boivin

Handling of extensively kept animals

Abstract The development of modern European agriculture, especially in extensive management systems, leads to an increase in the number of animals per stockman. Thus, the time allocated to each animal by the farmer is decreasing. In extensive management systems animals are often fed by their mothers and receive only neutral or aversive contacts from humans (e.g. sanitary treatment). Many welfare problems related to interactions between the animals and their caretakers can arise when changing from intensive management systems to such extensive environments. Management methods and selection of the appropriate animals are being studied to minimise handling problems and the negative consequences for the handlers and the animals. Intensive rearing conditions, such as calves drinking milk provided by humans, lead to animals easy to handle with very little aggressive behaviour. By contrast, research on cattle, goats and sheep has shown that a lack of human contact when young results in animals which are fearful and sometimes aggressive towards the caretakers. This is especially true for cattle in range conditions. The stress on the animals is also likely to be increased during particular events such as artificial insemination, veterinary visits or pre-slaughter handling. It is also suspected that a poor temperament is associated with more bruising and dark-cutting on cattle carcases and increased mismothering in sheep. Such problems can be reduced by brief and non aversive handling during particular periods. For example, calves receiving 10 days of handling during the first three months of age or just after artificial weaning when 8 months of age are easier to handle than non-handled animals. Another problem associated with a change to extensive management systems is the use of breeds not selected for these new conditions. Experiments on cattle and sheep have shown an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Bulls can produce daughters which are aggressive towards humans in range conditions, whereas other daughters are easy to handle in intensive systems. In the same way, Romanov ewes, well known for their good maternal behaviour in intensive systems, are easily disturbed at lambing by human presence when they are reared in extensive conditions. The use of appropriate genetic types or of genetic selection for ease of handling in extensive management would help to improve animal reactions toward human. A heritability coefficient of 0.22 for this criterion has been calculated for a population of French Limousin cattle.

Influence of breed and early management on ease of handling and open-field behaviour of cattle

The activities of several types of cattle during handling tests are reported. Each animal was drafted from its group and isolated in a pen (sorting test). A handler then tried to keep it in a corner for 30 consecutive seconds during a maximum time of 2 min (restraint test). Two variables are reported: time necessary to sort the animal and time necessary to restrict the animal to a corner. The influences of the handler and rearing conditions on the two variables were assessed in the first trial. Fifteen male Salers (8 months old) were used. During the winter period (3 months), eight had been reared in free stalls and the others had suckled twice a day under human control. The animals were handled by ten experienced humans who had not had any previous contact with the animals. No difference between handlers for the two variables was found. Animals from the twice a day suckling system were easier to restrict to the corner than the others (P<0.05). Thirty artificially reared dairy heifers (20 months old) of three breeds (Tarine, Montbeliarde and Friesian) were used in a second trial. The results for the two handling variables indicate that all these animals, irrespective of their breed, were easy to handle. Salers heifers of 1 year (n=20) and 2 years (n=18) of age from twice a day suckling (n=20) and range management (n=18) were compared. Results from handling tests and the general activity of the animals in an “open-field” test were studied. Animals from twice a day suckling management were more quickly sorted (P<0.05) and restricted to the corner (P<0.01) than those from the range system. Variables recorded in the open-field test and from handling tests were not significantly correlated.

Beef calves react differently to different handlers according to the test situation and their previous interactions with their caretaker

Since birth, twenty-four beef calves received either minimal or extensive contact with one experimenter and were observed in three tests between three and four months of age. In the first test, the calves observed with the familiar motionless experimenter spent less time away from a feeding bucket (5.6 ± 4.0 s) than when with an unfamiliar experimenter (21.3 ± 19.5 s) during the first repetition of test (P < 0.01). Differences between experimenters during the second repetition were not significant. The effects of clothes (familiar or unfamiliar) and of the two rearing treatments were also not significant. In the second test, the calves that had received extensive contact with their caretaker during rearing allowed themselves to be touched on the shoulders more quickly (50.4 ± 52.4 s) when they were eating in the feeding bucket than those which had received minimal contact (89.6 ± 55.5 s). Animals that had minimal contact during rearing allowed the familiar experimenter to touch their heads more quickly (106.7 ± 64.1 s) than an unknown experimenter (161.7 ± 34.6) (P < 0.05). However, the identity of the human did not affect time taken by calves to allow their heads to be touched if they had been reared in extensive contact with a caretaker. No difference was observed between calves when led on to an unfamiliar weighing crate. Cattle, thus, show different reactions to human beings depending on their familiarity with the human, their previous human experience and the properties of the testing conditions for the animal.

Genetic correlations between temperament and breeding traits in Limousin heifers

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the potential consequences of selection for less aggressive or active animals duringhandling by estimating genetic correlations between different criteria of temperament and Limousin heifer breeding traits.Data consisted of the records collected from 1992 to 2004 at the progeny test station of Limousin AI sires. Six traitsrecorded during the same behavioural test – the so-called docility test – were considered to describe the heifer’stemperament: aggressiveness against the handler, running time and number of escapes per minute of test period inpresence or absence of the handler and a synthetic docility score accounting for the five previous components. Eightbreeding traits were also considered simultaneously in the joint analysis with the five elementary temperamentcomponents: weights at 12 months and after calving (for measuring heifer growth), age at first observed oestrus (formeasuring puberty) and fertility (for measuring heifer reproductive performance), calving ease score and pelvic opening(for measuring calving performance), maternal behaviour at calf’s birth and milk yield (for measuring the suckling ability ofthe primiparous cow). REML (co)variance estimates were derived using linear multitrait sire models. Estimates ofheritability were in the range of values given in the literature. Estimates of genetic correlation between temperament traitsindicated that, genetically, aggressive animals also attempt to escape a lot. Consequently, their elimination will reduceboth working risk and handling time for the breeder. Genetic correlations between temperament traits and breeding traitsranged from zero to favourable estimates and confirmed the very few results of the literature indicating a slight trend ofless fearful heifers also being more productive, mainly because of a higher reproduction and calving performance, and, toa lesser extent, because of higher maternal abilities such as behaviour at calf’s birth and milk yield.Keywords: beef cattle, docility, growth, reproduction, calving ease, maternal behaviour, milk production.

The presence of the dam affects the efficiency of gentling and feeding on the early establishment of the stockperson-lamb relationship

This experiment investigates how the maternal presence influences the effect of additional human contact in early age on the reaction of lambs to their stockperson. Forty twin-born lambs were involved in this experiment during their first 4 days of life. Ten pairs of twins were reared artificially from 12h of age. One of each litter (AF, n=10) received 6.5+/-0.7 sessions of 30min of separation from the twin (with a wire fence) with 5min of gentling and feeding (suckling from a bottle and from a bucket fitted with a rubber teat). The other twin was not treated. Ten pairs of twins were reared with their dam and received 6.6+/-0.7 sessions of treatment. One twin (MAF, n=10) received the same treatment as AF. The other twin (M, n=10) was separated for 30min from the dam and had no human contact. From the age of 70+/-7h, lambs were tested in a social isolation test (alone for 1min, with the familiar stockman for 2min, alone again for 1min), in a Preference test (2min) between an unfamiliar maternal ewe and the familiar stockman, and, for the AF lambs only, in a Preference test (2min) between their familiar and an unfamiliar stockman. Eight AF lambs learned to suck on their own from the bucket of milk by the end of the experiment compared to only one MAF (P<0.001). AF lambs approached the human more (P<0.01), vocalised less (P<0.01) and walked less (P<0.01) during the social isolation test than animals reared with their mother (M and MAF). AF did not show any preference between the stockman and the unfamiliar maternal ewe while M and MAF lambs chose the ewe (P<0.05). AF lambs discriminated the familiar from an unfamiliar stockman only if they had learned to suck from the bucket during the treatment. Nevertheless MAF lambs vocalised less than M (P<0.05) in the presence of the stockman during the social isolation test, indicating a possible reduction of isolation distress. These results show that artificially reared lambs are preferentially motivated to interact with a familiar human after only a few days of contact. Moreover, they highlight the difficulty in using a feeding reward to improve the human-lamb relationship when lambs are reared permanently with their dams. However, the results suggest that early gentling improves the human-animal relationship whatever the maternal environment.

Assessment of different on-farm measures of beef cattle temperament for use in genetic evaluation

The aim of this study was to find a simple measure for calf temperament discrimination, which can be useful as a selection criterion for on-farm French beef cattle breeding schemes. Behavioral records were registered at an average age of 5 and 7 mo, respectively, for 1,282 and 1,440 Limousin calves born in 24 French farms between August 2007 and April 2008. Measures were repeated for 810 calves at the 2 ages. The test procedure consisted of individually restraining the calves in a chute, then exposing them to a stationary human situated in front of the chute for 10 s. For every calf and each period of the test, the number of rush movements and the total number of movements were scored by visual appraisal using a continuous scale ranging from 0 (no movements) to 60 (continuous movements). Initial scores were also transformed to categorical scores and analyzed. Genetic correlation across ages were very high for all the traits (above 0.84 ± 0.20) suggesting that these traits are governed by the same pool of genes at the 2 ages. The corresponding phenotypic correlations were about 0.3 for all the measures. Heritabilities were moderate for all measures (from 0.11 to 0.31) with the total number of movements during weighing measured at 7 mo being the greatest. All the measures were highly correlated (from 0.73 ± 0.26 to 0.99 ± 0.02). Genetic correlation across sexes was not statistically different from 1. However, traits measured during weighing showed different genetic variance estimates for females and males. Similar results were obtained for the transformed categorical scores. According to these results, the total number of movements during weighing seems to be the most promising trait for on-farm genetic evaluation of French beef cattle temperament.

Long-term exposure to unpredictable and uncontrollable aversive events alters fearfulness in sheep.

Numerous studies have investigated the emotional effects of various acute, potentially alarming events in animals, but little is known about how an accumulation of emotional experiences affects fearfulness. Fearfulness is a temperament trait that characterizes the propensity of an individual to be frightened by a variety of alarming events. The aim of this study was to investigate a putative alteration of fearfulness in sheep repeatedly exposed to various aversive events. Forty-eight 5-month-old female lambs were used. Over a period of 6 weeks, 24 of them (treated group) were exposed daily to various unpredictable and uncontrollable aversive events related to predatory cues, social context and negative handling that can occur under farming conditions. The other 24 lambs (control group) were housed in standard farming conditions (predictable food distribution and group handling). Fearfulness (behavioural and physiological responses) was assessed before and after the treatment period by subjecting the lambs to three standardized tests: individual exposure to suddenness and then to novelty in a test arena, and group exposure to a motionless human in the home pen. As biomarkers of stress, leukocyte counts, heart rate and cortisol concentrations were measured in the lambs in their home pens. Before the treatment, the emotional responses of the groups did not differ. After the treatment, treated lambs approached the human less often, had less contact with the novel object and vocalized more than controls in individual tests, suggesting that long-term exposure to unpredictable and uncontrollable aversive events increases subsequent fearfulness in sheep. In addition, treated lambs had lower leukocyte counts, heart rate and cortisol levels, pointing to a chronic stress state. These findings suggest that increased fearfulness may be used as a sign of chronic stress in farm animals.

Do Lambs Perceive Regular Human Stroking as Pleasant? Behavior and Heart Rate Variability Analyses

Stroking by humans is beneficial to the human-animal relationship and improves welfare in many species that express intraspecific allogrooming, but very few studies have looked at species like sheep that do not express such contact except around parturition. This study investigated the way lambs perceive regular human tactile contact using behavioral and physiological responses. Twenty-four lambs were reared and bucket-fed in groups of four. All were stroked daily by their familiar caregiver. At 8 weeks of age, the lambs were individually tested in their home pen but in a 1×1m open-barred pen after a 15h period of habituation to physical separation from peers while remaining in visual and auditory contact. Half of the lambs received stroking by their caregiver for 8min and half were exposed to their caregiver’s immobile presence. Heart rate and heart rate variability were recorded and analyzed by 2-min slots over the same interval based on three measures: mean heart rate value (HR), root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and standard deviation of all intervals measured between consecutive sinus beats (SDNN). Behavioral responses (ear postures of the lamb and time spent in contact with the familiar caregiver, on the knees of the familiar caregiver, and moving) were recorded throughout the test. Lamb HR decreased continuously while in the presence of their caregiver. Lambs being stroked showed slower HR and higher RMSSD which reflected positive emotional states compared to lambs left unstroked. All behavioral variables were highly correlated with the main component axis of the PCA analyses: the more the animals stayed in contact with their caregiver, the less they moved and the more their ears were hanging. This first component clearly differentiates lambs being stroked or not. Behavioral and physiological observations support the hypothesis that gentle physical contact with the caregiver is perceived positively by lambs.

Maternal presence limits the effects of early bottle feeding and petting on lambs' socialisation to the stockperson

Mothered herbivores are more fearful towards humans than those reared artificially. However, in previous studies, both human contact and maternal environment factors have been confounded. This paper investigates the influence of early human contact (petting, bottle feeding) given to lambs reared artificially in the presence or absence of the dam, on their socialisation to the stockperson. Forty-eight lambs were studied. From day 1 of age until 7 weeks of age (weaning), half the lambs (M1) were individually reared in the presence of their dam and one twin lamb behind a grid. At weaning the dams were removed. The rest of the lambs (M0) were reared only in the presence of their twin lamb behind the grid. In each M0 or M1 group, half the animals received human contact until 6 days of age (H1), and the other half were not handled (H0). Later, they had no visual contact with humans during husbandry. Response to the stockperson was measured during the initial sessions of human contact, during tests in the rearing pen (at 4 and 9 weeks of age) and in a test pen at 5 and 10 weeks of age. In addition, responses to a novel object in the rearing pen at 3 and 8 weeks of age, and preference for the stockperson or their familiar conspecific(s) (no dam after weaning) at 6 and 11 weeks of age were also measured. During the sessions of human contact, lambs stayed in contact to the stockperson whatever their maternal environment. Later, whatever the age, H1 lambs approached the stockperson more quickly (P<0.01) and interacted for longer (P<0.05) in the different tests than H0. However, M0H1 lambs approached the stockperson (P<0.05) more than the other lambs, even in the choice test (P<0.01). In addition, M0 animals approached the novel object more than M1 lambs at 3 weeks of age (P<0.05), but not after weaning, and tried less to rush out into the conspecific(s)’s pen at any age (P<0.01). The results clearly show the effect of the maternal environment on lambs’ socialisation with humans. ‘Proximity seeking’ of lambs for their dam probably affects the development of other durable relationships at a young age. The results then raise the question of the contact/separation between the young and its dam in early husbandry management when socialisation of the young to humans is needed as a way to durably improve animal docility.

Daughters are more strongly attached to their mother than sons: a possible mechanism for early social segregation

Social factors hypotheses predict that social segregation between male and female adult ungulates is due to social preferences among same-sex peers and avoidance of the opposite sex, rather than aggregation due to body size dimorphism and differential needs of the sexes. It is suggested that if such social preference/avoidance exists its roots should be early in life. While juvenile ungulate males show social preference for same-sex and same-age peers a few weeks after birth, no studies have confirmed such a phenomenon in juvenile females. In this study we investigated another possible mechanism that would result in an early social preference for same-sex conspecifics among juvenile females: we hypothesized that offspring–mother attachment is stronger for daughters than for sons. Attachment was measured in lambs, Ovis aries, using three characteristics defined initially in children: proximity seeking, distress following separation and exploration in the mothers presence. Lambs were tested at 3 weeks of age in two experimental situations in which they could interact with the mother, a familiar ewe or an unfamiliar ewe. (1) During a choice test between the mother and the familiar ewe, daughters maintained closer proximity with the mother than sons did. During the test without the mother (a familiar versus an unfamiliar ewe) daughters were more distressed than sons were. (2) In an isolation–reunion–separation test, reunion with the mother increased exploratory behaviour more in daughters than in sons. Overall, our results reveal that daughters displayed stronger attachment behaviours and could be more strongly attached to their mother than sons are. Such early preference may be a key factor leading to social preference among females and social segregation between the sexes.