Individual differences in number of pest flies and grooming behaviour against flies in grazing cows
2004
Aorigel (Inner Mongolia Agricultural Univ., Hohhot (China)) | Takeda, K. | Matsui, K.
Twenty-six Japanese Black cows were investigated for number of pest flies and grooming behaviour against flies. We discuss whether individual differences exist, and relationship to temperament of the cows was analysed. Number of pest flies and grooming behaviour of focal cows were observed twice for 5min/ cow/observation, and temperament score of focal cows was recorded separately for four categories. Maximum numbers of pest flies and grooming behaviour were 415 flies/observation and 95.5 times in 5min, respectively. Minimum numbers of pest flies and grooming behaviour were 38 flies/observation and 19 times in 5 min, respectively. Individual differences were found in the numbers of pest flies and the times of grooming behaviour (P<0.001). Grooming behaviour of focal cows whose temperament score was 3 (restless) or 4 (nervous) occurred more often than cows with a temperament score of 1 (mild). However, no difference in number of pest flies was observed. These results suggest that nervous cows groom themselves more frequently than that of other temperaments.
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