Behavioural Responses of Primiparous and Multiparous Dairy Cows to The Milking Process over an Entire Lactation

Abstract

the objective of this study was to examine associations between milking temperament, parity and milk production traits in primiparous and multiparous dairy cows. twenty-one primiparous and nineteen multiparous holstein friesian cows were involved in the investigation on a hungarian dairy farm. cows' stepping behaviour, milk yield and average milking speed were recorded once a month over an entire lactation, during morning milking. milking temperament was scored by direct human observation on a 5-point-scale (1=very nervous, 5=very quiet) during udder preparation and milking. multiparous cows showed a little more excitable behaviour at milking than during udder preparation (mann-whitney u=14165.00, p=0.032), and they were calmer at premilking preparation than primiparous cows (mann-whitney u=14046.00, p=0.001). milking temperament of multiparous cows during udder preparation was associated with milking speed: nervous cows let down their milk slower (f=9.102, df= 1, p=0.003). further experiments are needed to repeat the milking temperament test along with sensors measuring heart rate variability of cows in order to better understand the milking behaviour of cows. key words: dairy cow, lactation, milking temperament, milking speed, milk yieldIn intensive dairy farming modern housing and milking technologies mainly determine the welfare of animals. Dairy cows can reach their full performance potential only in an adequate production environment, in which they feel comfortable. Regarding the milking system, discomfort due to human presence as well as the milking process itself induces stress in cows, hereby milk ejection problems can occur (Van Reenen et al., 2002; Bruckmaier, 2005) and this also makes cows difficult

Effect of temperament on milk production, somatic cell count, chemical composition and physical properties in Lacaune dairy sheep breed

“…Animal with score "1" was not found in this investigation. Similar results had been reported earlier by Szentléleki et al (2015) who found that approximately 90 % of dairy cows were calm in their studies. Based on our results, proportion of Lacaune ewes with unfavourable temperament score during milking was low.…”

“…Temperament is generally defined in terms of the behavioural response to human handling or to a novel environment (Sutherland et al, 2012). Several authors reported that milking temperament such as stepping behaviour at milking is a main characteristic of dairy animals that indicates the level of stress during milking (Szentléleki et al, 2015). Animals' temperament has been often evaluated by subjectively scoring where authors generally use 1-3, 1-4 or 1-5 scoring scales to identify animals' temperament during milking in a milking parlour (Szentléleki et al, 2015).…”

“…In some cases, the temperament has been influenced also by parities so that the multiparous dairy animals were calmer than primiparous animals (Szentléleki et al, 2015).…”

“…Several authors reported that milking temperament such as stepping behaviour at milking is a main characteristic of dairy animals that indicates the level of stress during milking (Szentléleki et al, 2015). Animals' temperament has been often evaluated by subjectively scoring where authors generally use 1-3, 1-4 or 1-5 scoring scales to identify animals' temperament during milking in a milking parlour (Szentléleki et al, 2015). Previous studies reported correlations between temperament and lactation milk production in dairy sheep (Murray et al, 2009;Pajor et al, 2010, Pajor et al 2013).…”

Intramammary Infections in Heifers—Time of Onset and Associated Risk Factors

“…Kutzer et al [48] trained heifers in the milking routine at least 10 days prepartum, and these heifers showed less stepping and kicking during the udder preparation phase after calving compared to untrained animals. Previous studies verified differences between the individual temperaments of dairy cows and their milking behavior in the parlor [49]. They categorized the animals' behavior on the basis of steps, kicks, and leg movement; thus, these reactions can be described as individual milking temperament.…”