Temperament of Holstein Friesian cows in milking parlour and its relation to milk production

Abstract

SZENTLÉLEKI, A., HERVÉ, J., PAJOR, F., FALTA, D., TŐZSÉR, J.: Temperament of Holstein Friesian cows in milking parlour and its relation to milk production. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2008, LVI, No. 1, pp. 201-208 The aim of this study was to evaluate the change of temperament of Holstein cows scored before and during milking during the entire lactation and to calculate correlation between temperament measured in the two moments as well as milk production traits and temperament. Observations were carried out on 17 primiparous Holstein Friesian cows starting their lactation within 85 days. Measurements of temperament and milk production traits were taken once in each month of the lactation, during the morning milking, in a milking parlour. Temperament was assessed in a 5-point scale during udder preparation and milking procedure (1: very nervous, 5: very quiet). Data of milk yield and milk fl ow were collected individually on each test day morning. Results showed changes during the lactation in temperament of cows scored directly before milking (P < 0.01), however, temperament during milking did not alter with months (P > 0.10). By correlation coeffi cients, behaviour assessed in the two moments cannot be regarded as the same. In addition loose, signifi cant relations were found only between milk traits and temperament before milking. behaviour, lactation, milk production, dairy cows, animal welfare, Holstein Friesian (HF)

Effects of Temperament on Milk Related Traits in Simmental Dual-Purpose Cows

“…A significant share of 86.8% of calm cows was recorded by Czako, (1978) also, in Simmental breed. These previous results were confirmed in time by other studies conducted on different dairy breeds (Budzyńska et al, 2005;Szentléleki et al, 2008;Sewalem et al, 2010). Comparative studies related the herds' structure in terms of temperament according to breeds highlighted contradictory outcomes.…”

Effect of the temperament of dairy cows on lifetime production efficiency

“…In addition, temperament is a trait that seems stable over time (Kunowska-Slósarz and Slósarz, 2008;Le Neindre et al, 2004;Visscher and Goddar, 1995). Despite the difficulties in measuring temperament using different methods and determining its scope (Wolf and Weissing, 2010;Reale et al, 2010), efforts are made to find the relationship between animal temperament and productivity (Voisinet et al, 1997;Juhas and Strapak, 2005;Müller and Keyserlingk, 2006;Keyserlingk et al, 2009;Szentleleki et al, 2008;Hoppe et al, 2010).…”