The influence of concentrate‐rich diet on daily sleep and lying postures of Japanese black cows

Abstract

Sleep is one of the essential behaviors in mammalian health and welfare (Schmidt, 2014; Siegel, 2005). Schmidt (2014) theorized that sleep functions in energy conservation, a recovery or recuperative process, neural network reorganization, and an immobilization strategy. Even though each proposed theory of sleep function is paradoxical and has its own shortcomings, all proposed functions can shed light on its importance, not only in adaptation but also in animal production and welfare. Deep sleep occurs only when the animal is well accustomed to its surroundings (Ruckebusch, 1975). Sleep in a relaxing posture is innately dangerous for prey animals such as cattle; therefore, sleep posture as well as lying posture (Norring et al.., 2008) may be used as an indicator of their perceived safety and comfort (Ruckebusch, 1972). Management can influence both sleep and lying posture. For example, Fukasawa, Komatsu, and Higashiyama (2018b) reported that cows that had moved into a new environment had disturbed sleep and lying posture. Ninomiya and Sato (2009) suggested that behavioral satisfaction due to environmental enrichment can promote the daily sleep duration of Japanese black steers; however, they could not examine which enrichment treatment significantly influenced sleep. In our previous study (Fukasawa, Komatsu, & Higashiyama, 2019), there were significant differences in sleep posture measurements among commercial dairy farms, which had differences in managements such as diet and ventilation. However, we could not find any significant effects of management on sleep posture measurements because of small number of samples and confounding among management systems. Therefore, we wanted to examine how each management can influence sleep posture under experimental conditions.

Effect of Duration of High-Grain Feeding on Chewing, Feeding Behavior, and Salivary Composition in Cows with or without a Phytogenic Feed Supplement

“…Greater lying bouts may reflect animal discomfort and may be due to the effect of the acidogenic diets that lead to damage in the lamina of the foot [ 47 ]. Furthermore, Fukasawa et al [ 48 ] reported similar results, describing a tendency to increase lying bouts when implementing high concentrate feeding compared to forage feeding. The higher nutritive value of the diet has been suggested to influence lying time or lying bouts as well, with increasing lying times associated with a greater body condition score [ 6 ].…”