Abstract
This study tests the two main characteristics of a temperament trait, consistency across
time and consistency across situations. The temperament trait of interest was
aggressiveness during feeding in dairy cattle. In this study, we focused on whether it is
possible to infer a trait of aggressiveness from the measurement of behavioural responses
expressed by individual cows during feeding. Aggressive behaviour appears in many
contexts but this paper focuses on aggressive behaviour in a competitive situation over a
feed resource in housed dairy cattle. It is important that we fully understand within-cow
consistency of aggressiveness in different competitive and social situations. To achieve
this the following questions were investigated: (1) are cows consistent in how they
express aggressive behaviour over time? (2) and across situations at a standard and
reduced (competitive) feedface? The aim of this study was to measure the behavioural
reactions of housed dairy cattle during feeding in a way that can be practically and easily
recorded on commercial farms. Ten primiparous and 30 multiparous healthy lactating
cows were housed in a group (parity = 3.5 2.15; mean S.D.). The behaviour of the
aggressor and recipient was recorded for each aggressive interaction for 60 min after feed
arrival. Repeatability estimates and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance were both used to
assess consistency of aggressor and recipient behaviours across time. The within-cow
repeatability was highest for ‘aggressive index’ (r = 0.31) and lowest for non-response
behaviours (r = 0.04) across time. Individual’s responses to the standard and reduced feedface
were significantly correlated for contact and non-contact behaviours. These results highlight
the complexity of aggressive style of cows during feeding and illustrate that some measures of
aggressive feeding behaviour are repeatable within cows.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1 - 7 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Volume | 121 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | First published - 2009 |
Bibliographical note
521155Keywords
- Aggression
- Dairy cattle
- Feeding
- Temperament