The effect of routine practices on the behaviour of beef cows according to theirfeeding management

International audience

Inglés. Animal behaviour can be modified in response to stimuli like weather conditions, socialstructure and farm management. The aim of this study was to determine if routinemanagement activities such as weighing affected cow daily behaviour. Twelve 4 yearold lactating Charolais beef cows received a diet that met 100% of their nutritionalrequirements during 5 months of lactation. From the second month post-calving, cowsunderwent feed restriction (4 d to 10 d) during which feed allowance was reduced tomeet 50% of their energy requirement (Challenge periods), and then cows returned tofull feed (Recovery periods). Cows were equipped with Medria® Axel loggers whichrecorded physical activity continuously during the study at 5-min intervals, providing themost dominant behaviour among five activities (ingestion, rumination, rest, overactivity and other). Cows were moved from their pen to a scale and weighed at 13:30 onsome days. In order to determine the effect of weighing on the patterns of dailybehaviour, the same number of days with weighing (BW, n=25 d) and without weighing(W0, n=25 d) were considered for each Challenge and Recovery periods (n=50 d). Themain differences during the Challenges were found in the “rumination” time, which waslonger in W0 than in BW days, implying that weighing around midday interfered mostlywith rumination. Some effects were also observed on “rest” and “over- activity”, whileduring Recovery periods no differences were found in any activity. These results shouldbe considered in order to schedule routine management to avoid and/or minimizeinterference with cattle natural behaviour patterns.