Feed barrier design affects behaviour and physiology in goats

Nordmann, Eva; Keil, Nina M.; Schmied-Wagner, Claudia; Graml, Christine; Langbein, Jan; Aschwanden, Janine; Hof, Jessica von; Maschat, Kristina; Palme, Rupert; Waiblinger, Susanne

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2011.04.016

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The tendency to evade conflicts (i.e., low reactivity in response to aggression) or the ability to resist some agonistic contacts (i.e., horn push) could be interpreted as mechanisms that increase the time devoted to feeding by some subordinates, and this tactic is observed in domestic goats [ 11 ]. It was reported that there was no effect of the interaction of type of feed barrier and presence of horns or the type of feed barrier itself on the total number of agonistic interactions without physical contact [ 12 ] which is in agreement to the present study.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Behavioral pattern of Rohilkhandi kids under different feeding systems

Kumari¹,

Patel²,

Maurya³

et al. 2016

Vet World

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Aim:The present study designed to evaluate the effect of different feeding systems on the behavior of local Rohilkhandi kids.Materials and Methods:A total of 21 growing goats (local goat of Rohilkhand region), weighing around 7-11 kg and aging 4-5 months, were used. These animals were kept in three groups. Group I was fed un-chopped green fodder in circular feeder (newly designed). Group II was fed un-chopped green fodder in linear feeder that was similar to the existing farm practice. Group III was fed chopped green fodder in linear feeder (modified version). Amount of concentrate and dry fodder fed was kept constant for all the three groups subject to equal increment in accordance with their increasing age. Adlibitum green fodder was made available to the animals. The experiment was conducted for 3 months. On-going behavior was recorded each day 4 h (2 h in the morning from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, after offering the feed, and same was repeated for 2 h in the afternoon, i.e., from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm) was made between 9 am and 5 pm. The individual behaviors, viz., feeding, drinking, lying down, ruminating, idling, butting, pressing, pushing, frontal clashing, and physical displacement at feed barrier (active and passive: Without physical contact) of the goat were recorded using time-sampling method. Further, incidental activities such as defecation and urination were also recorded.Results:Among all the groups, butting, head to head, and pushing were the common agonistic behavior found but values did not differ significantly. The pushing while feeding was relatively less in Group II (0.22±0.04 min) which differed significantly (p<0.05) from the other two groups. The idling time was found significantly (p<0.05) lower in Group II (1.68±0.21) as compared to Group I (4.67±0.52) and Group III (4.27±0.56). Time spent in rumination near the feeding trough as well as away from the feeding trough was also significantly higher in Group I (p<0.05) than the other two groups. Other minor activities, viz., defecation and urination were negligible. No stereotypic activities were observed.Conclusion:It was concluded that provision of un-chopped fodder in circular feeder could only simulate natural feeding behavior of goat but did not give any added advantage. Further, feeding chopped fodder in linear feeding trough lead to increased consumption and more time is spent on feeding than on agonistic behavior as compared to the other two groups.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Behavioral pattern of Rohilkhandi kids under different feeding systems

Kumari¹,

Patel²,

Maurya³

et al. 2016

Vet World

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“…In general, sympathetic activity tends to increase heart rate (HR) and decrease HRV, whereas parasympathetic activity tends to decrease HR and increase HRV. Lower values in HRV and higher values in HR were found to be associated with higher levels of stress in goats (Nordmann et al, 2011), and this can also be expected in cows.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Analysis of behavioral changes in dairy cows associated with claw horn lesions

Nechanitzky

Starke²,

Vidondo

et al. 2016

Journal of Dairy Science

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Detecting lame cows is important in improving animal welfare. Automated tools are potentially useful to enable identification and monitoring of lame cows. The goals of this study were to evaluate the suitability of various physiological and behavioral parameters to automatically detect lameness in dairy cows housed in a cubicle barn. Lame cows suffering from a claw horn lesion (sole ulcer or white line disease) of one claw of the same hind limb (n=32; group L) and 10 nonlame healthy cows (group C) were included in this study. Lying and standing behavior at night by tridimensional accelerometers, weight distribution between hind limbs by the 4-scale weighing platform, feeding behavior at night by the nose band sensor, and heart activity by the Polar device (Polar Electro Oy, Kempele, Finland) were assessed. Either the entire data set or parts of the data collected over a 48-h period were used for statistical analysis, depending upon the parameter in question. The standing time at night over 12 h and the limb weight ratio (LWR) were significantly higher in group C as compared with group L, whereas the lying time at night over 12 h, the mean limb difference (△weight), and the standard deviation (SD) of the weight applied on the limb taking less weight were significantly lower in group C as compared with group L. No significant difference was noted between the groups for the parameters of heart activity and feeding behavior at night. The locomotion score of cows in group L was positively correlated with the lying time and △weight, whereas it was negatively correlated with LWR and SD. The highest sensitivity (0.97) for lameness detection was found for the parameter SD [specificity of 0.80 and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.84]. The highest specificity (0.90) for lameness detection was present for Δweight (sensitivity=0.78; AUC=0.88) and LWR (sensitivity=0.81; AUC=0.87). The model considering the data of SD together with lying time at night was the best predictor of cows being lame, accounting for 40% of the variation in the likelihood of a cow being lame (sensitivity=0.94; specificity=0.80; AUC=0.86). In conclusion, the data derived from the 4-scale-weighing platform, either alone or combined with the lying time at night over 12 h, represent the most valuable parameters for automated identification of lame cows suffering from a claw horn lesion of one individual hind limb.

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“…In the few available studies, measuring the effects of a specific stressor quality on both HPA axis activity and heart rate activity in farm animal species results are not straightforward. Although, in some studies, patterns of both systems led to similar conclusions regarding the welfare state ( 8 , 13 ), in other studies, heart rate activity and HPA axis activity would not have allowed to draw the same conclusions on their own ( 14 – 17 ). These differences could depend on the specific function of the two systems, whereas physical activity affects heart rate and the heart rate variability patterns ( 2 ), the main function of the HPA axis is the regulation of energy distribution, i.e., its activation can be due to metabolic mobilization, without necessarily a correlation to perceived stress ( 1 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Taken together, there is evidence that the specific context of a situation (qualitative aspect of a stressor) may be reflected in the ANS response pattern, and this evidence needs to be tested in further studies. Additionally, such an approach should be extended to comparisons between different regulatory systems, e.g., comparing ANS and the HPA axis ( 8 , 13 – 17 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context Specificity of the ANS Stress Response during Two Regrouping Experiments in Goats

et al. 2016

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The aim of this study was to analyze whether the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) differs between two regrouping procedures in goats, which would indicate stimulus specificity of these stressors. Applying two regrouping procedures, we evaluated heart rate and heart rate variability (RMSSD, SDNN, and RMSSD/SDNN). The two regrouping procedures were (1) introduction of individual goats into established groups (“introduction experiment”) and (2) temporary separation and subsequent reintegration of individuals from/into their group with two levels of contact during separation (“separation experiment”). In the “introduction experiment,” the heart rate of introduced goats while lying decreased continuously from an average 78 to 68 beats/min from before the introduction to the last day of the introduction period. Inversely, RMSSD increased continuously from 41 to 62 ms, which, on its own, would indicate an adaptation to the situation. During the “separation experiment,” heart rate while lying was higher when goats were separated in the “acoustic contact treatment” (82 beats/min on average) compared with the “restricted physical contact treatment” (75 beats/min on average). This difference reflected a higher level of arousal during the “acoustic contact treatment.” However, heart rate activity did not allow detecting effects of separation or reintegration. Even though it can be assumed that both the separation and introduction of goats are stressful for goats, the ANS reactions observed in this study differed between the two management procedures indicating that the ANS activation was specific to each situation. In addition, we discuss the ANS results in context with earlier findings of variables of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis (fecal cortisol metabolites) and behavior (lying and feeding). As correspondence between ANS, HPA, and behavioral reactions was limited both within and across experiments, the results of this study underline the concept that stress response patterns are context specific.

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Feed barrier design affects behaviour and physiology in goats

Cited by 22 publications

References 28 publications

Behavioral pattern of Rohilkhandi kids under different feeding systems

Behavioral pattern of Rohilkhandi kids under different feeding systems

Analysis of behavioral changes in dairy cows associated with claw horn lesions

Context Specificity of the ANS Stress Response during Two Regrouping Experiments in Goats

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