Rumination activity of dairy cows in the 24 hours before and after calving

Abstract

Monitoring rumination behavior serves multiple purposes in feeding and herd management of dairy cows. The process of calving is a major event for cows, and a detailed understanding of alterations in behavioral patterns of animals in the time around calving is important in calving detection. The objective of this study was to describe the short-term changes in rumination patterns in dairy cows immediately before and after parturition. In total, 17 cows were fitted with rumination sensors that were able to monitor rumination time, number of rumination boli, and number of rumination jaw movements. Rumination time was decreased in the last 4h antepartum and in the first 8h postpartum. Cows stopped ruminating 123 ± 58 min (mean ± standard deviation) before calving and resumed ruminating 355 ± 194 min after calving. The number of rumination jaw movements and boli per day were decreased in the 24-h period postpartum. Rumination rate, the number of rumination jaw movements per rumination minute, and the number of boli per rumination minute changed little around calving. The calving event primarily influenced the duration and frequency of various rumination characteristics but not rumination intensity. Among detected characteristics, rumination time showed the greatest potential for monitoring of calving events.

Eating and rumination activities two weeks prepartum to one month postpartum in 100 healthy cows and cows with peripartum diseases

“…Rumination time increased as early as one day later and fluctuated within a narrow range from day 2 to day 30 in agreement with the findings of other studies ( Journet and Remond, 1976;Soriani et al, 2012;Braun et al, 2014;Calamari et al, 2014;Pahl et al, 2014;Hoy, 2015;Clark et al, 2015). The nadir on the day of calving has been attributed to hormonal changes (Pahl et al, 2015), and it is possible that parturition itself reduces rumination activity (Grunert, 1993).…”

“…However, the rumination time and the prepartum decrease in rumination activity are subject to large individual variation (Soriani et al, 2012;Büchel and Sundrum, 2014); the drop in rumination time recorded on the day of calving ranged from 15% (Schirmann et al, 2013) to 33% (Clark et al, 2015) or 70% (Calamari et al, 2014). Other authors observed that a significant decrease (up to 25.7%) did not occur until 2 to 6 hours before calving (Büchel and Sundrum, 2014;Pahl et al, 2014;Hoy, 2015). The daily rumination time rebounds within 7 to 15 days postpartum reaching values seen before the prepartum decline and then remains more or less constant for several weeks ( Journet and Remond, 1976;Soriani et al, 2012;Tschoner, 2013;Calamari et al, 2014;Hoy, 2015).…”

Post parturient neonatal behaviour and their relationship with maternal behaviour score, parity and sex in Surti buffaloes

“…Results of this study indicated shortest rumination period during the early post calving stage which is supported by Soriani et al (2012) who reported decrease in rumination time on the day of calving. Further, Pahl et al (2014) observed depressed rumination in first 8 h of after calving. Reduction in the rumination time in dams of group 1 might be due to least eating time during early post-partum period whereas, increased eating time improved rumination time in later stage.…”

“…Several studies had shown that cows spent maximum time in care giving behaviours like licking (Illmann & Spinka 1993;Val-Laillet et al 2004) whereas, least priority have been given to maintenance behavioural activities viz. eating (Huzzey et al 2005) and rumination (Pahl et al 2014) during early post-partum period. To ensure strong mother-offspring bonding and good expression of maternal behaviours (licking, nursing and protection) longer periods of dam-calf contact may be recommended under extensive and organic dairy farming (Grandinson 2005).Since little is known on cow-calf relationship in buffaloes, the current study has been designed to investigate the post parturient neonatal behaviour and its relationship with maternal behaviour score, parity and sex in Surti buffaloes.…”

Several Methods of Estrus Detection in Cattle Dams: A Review

“…In a follow-up study that looked at 453 estrous cycles, rumination time decreased 19.6 % (83 min) on the day of estrus (Reith et al, 2014). Pahl et al (2015) also found a decrease in rumination on the day of (19.3 %) and the day before (19.8 %) inseminations leading to pregnancy.…”