The influence of gentle interactions on avoidance distance towards humans, weight gain and physiological parameters in group-housed dairy calves

Lürzel, Stephanie; Münsch, Charlotte; Windschnurer, Ines; Futschik, Andreas; Palme, Rupert; Waiblinger, Susanne

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2015.09.004

Cited by 44 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…11 m 2 /animal), which was familiar to all animals. Each animal was prepared and equipped for HRV measurement (POLAR ® , S810i, Polar Elektro Oy, Kempele, Finland), as described previously [19]. All trials were conducted on lying animals during resting phases to minimise the influence of physical activity on cardiac parameters.…”

Section: General Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the "ventral neck" treatment, the heifer was stroked only on the ventral neck, as in previous studies [9,19]. In the "reactive" treatment, the stroker included the whole head/neck region, always starting behind the left jaw and following a predetermined route until the heifer showed a behaviour indicating a momentary preference, such as presenting a body part, (partly) closing the eyes, stretching the neck or leaning towards the stroker's hand.…”

Section: Stroking Stylesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In several previous studies [19,20] cattle were stroked on the ventral neck, which is the area that led to the most positive reactions compared with stroking of the withers or chest [9]; stroking of the ventral neck improved the animals' relationship with humans most effectively [18]. Focusing on one defined area allows for higher standardisation of stroking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effects of human-animal interactions on animal affective states can be assessed using behavioural and physiological indicators [24]. One behaviour that is often observed in cattle during social licking [15,21] and during stroking or brushing by humans is neck stretching [16,17,19], which is therefore interpreted as indicating a positive perception. Recently, facial expressions have been investigated as potential indicators of affective states in animals (reviewed by Descovich et al [25]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Different Stroking Styles on Behaviour and Cardiac Parameters in Heifers

Lange

Franzmayr

Wisenöcker

et al. 2020

Animals

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Gentle animal–human interactions, such as stroking, can promote positive emotions and thus welfare in cattle. While previous studies showed that stroking at the ventral neck elicited the most positive reactions in cows, intra-specific allogrooming in cattle includes different body regions and is probably guided partly by the receiver. Thus, we compared heifers’ (n = 28) reactions to stroking with the experimenter either reactively responding to perceived momentary preferences of the heifers or exclusively stroking the ventral neck. Independently of the stroking style, longer durations of neck stretching and contact occurred during stroking, supporting our hypothesis of a positive perception of stroking. We did not confirm the predicted decrease in heart rate and increase in heart rate variability, but instead found a slightly increased mean heart rate during stroking. The different stroking styles elicited differences in the heifers’ ear positions: “reactive” stroking led to longer durations of low ear positions during stroking, while during “ventral neck” stroking, the duration of back up increased. However, no other behaviours differed significantly between different stroking styles, indicating that the exact manner of stroking applied in our treatments seemed to be less important in the promotion of positive affective states in cattle through gentle human–animal interactions.

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Section: General Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stroking Stylesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Effects of Different Stroking Styles on Behaviour and Cardiac Parameters in Heifers

Lange

Franzmayr

Wisenöcker

et al. 2020

Animals

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A good relationship between cattle and humans reduces stress to routine management practices (Lensink et al, 2001;Waiblinger et al, 2004). Lürzel et al (2015) found that gentle interaction was effective in reducing the calves' fear of humans. A negative human-animal relationship, indicative of fear and avoidance of humans, increases the risk for lameness (Chesterton et al, 1989;Rouha-Mülleder et al, 2009).…”

Section: Poor Stockmanshipmentioning

confidence: 99%