Short communication: Detection of lameness in dairy cows using a grooming device.

Lameness in dairy cattle is a common welfare problem with significant economic implications. All too often, appropriate treatment is delayed or neglected due to insufficient detection of lame cows. Brush usage is considered a low-resilience activity; that is, one that typically decreases when energy resources are limited or when the cost involved in the activity increases, such as during sickness and stress.

From minutes to days-The ability of sows (Sus scrofa) to estimate time intervals.

Time estimation helps allocating time to different tasks and to plan behavioural sequences. It may also be relevant to animal welfare if it enables animals assessing the duration of a negative situation. Here, we investigated the ability of dry sows to estimate short and long time periods.

Lower working heights decrease contraction intensity of shoulder muscles in a herringbone 30° milking parlor.

Musculoskeletal disorders have been a main concern in milkers for many years. To improve posture, a formula was developed in a previous study to calculate ergonomically optimal working heights for various milking parlor types. However, the working height recommendations based on the formula for the herringbone 30° parlor were broad.

Space Allowance of the Littered Area Affects Lying Behavior in Group-Housed Horses.

Horses can sleep while standing; however, recumbency is required for rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and therefore essential. Previous research indicated a minimal duration of recumbency of 30 min per 24 h to perform a minimal duration of REM sleep. For group-housed horses, suitable lying area represents a potentially limited resource.

Determining suitable dimensions for dairy goat feeding places by evaluating body posture and feeding reach.

Confined goats spend a substantial part of the day feeding. A poorly designed feeding place increases the risk of feeding in nonphysiological body postures, and even injury. Scientifically validated information on suitable dimensions of feeding places for loose-housed goats is almost absent from the literature.

Daily patterns of synchrony in lying and feeding of cows: Quasi-natural state and (anti-) synchrony factors.

Synchrony is thought to provide fitness advantages to group-living animals, but little is known how animals maintain synchrony. We investigated intensity of synchrony factors (milking, feed-provision) in cattle herds. Intensity decreased from dairy cows milked in a parlour to cows milked by a robot to suckler cows raising calves.

Context Specificity of the ANS Stress Response during Two Regrouping Experiments in Goats.

The aim of this study was to analyze whether the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) differs between two regrouping procedures in goats, which would indicate stimulus specificity of these stressors. Applying two regrouping procedures, we evaluated heart rate and heart rate variability (RMSSD, SDNN, and RMSSD/SDNN). The two regrouping procedures were (1) introduction of individual goats into established groups ("introduction experiment") and (2) temporary separation and subsequent reintegration of individuals from/into their group with two levels of contact during separation ("separation experiment").

Effects of milking frequency in automatic milking systems on salivary cortisol, immunoglobulin A, somatic cell count and melatonin.

In barns with an automatic milking system (AMS), both the milking frequency and the number of nighttime milkings vary between cows. A low milking frequency might indicate problems in gaining access to the milking unit. Also, nighttime lighting in the waiting area of the AMS and in the milking unit increases exposure to light at night and could suppress nocturnal melatonin synthesis.

Analysis of behavioral changes in dairy cows associated with claw horn lesions.

Detecting lame cows is important in improving animal welfare. Automated tools are potentially useful to enable identification and monitoring of lame cows. The goals of this study were to evaluate the suitability of various physiological and behavioral parameters to automatically detect lameness in dairy cows housed in a cubicle barn.

Frontal Brain Activity and Behavioral Indicators of Affective States are Weakly Affected by Thermal Stimuli in Sheep Living in Different Housing Conditions.

Many stimuli evoke short-term emotional reactions. These reactions may play an important role in assessing how a subject perceives a stimulus. Additionally, long-term mood may modulate the emotional reactions but it is still unclear in what way.

Habituation of dairy heifers to milking routine-Effects on human avoidance distance, behavior, and cardiac activity during milking.

The onset of lactation marks a significant turning point in a heifer's life, and prior experience with the milking routine could have positive effects on animal welfare and productivity. The objectives of this multifarm (n=5) study were to investigate (1) whether prelactation training sessions affected behavior during milking, cardiac activity, human avoidance distance, and milk yield, and (2) whether these responses would be modified by the heifer's initial level of fear of humans. Trained heifers (TH, n=30) experienced the routine in the milking parlor on at least 10 d prepartum, whereas untrained heifers (UH, n=29) entered the parlor for the first time after calving.

Housing conditions influence cortical and behavioural reactions of sheep in response to videos showing social interactions of different valence.

Mood, as a long-term affective state, is thought to modulate short-term emotional reactions in animals, but the details of this interplay have hardly been investigated experimentally. Apart from a basic interest in this affective system, mood is likely to have an important impact on animal welfare, as bad mood may taint all emotional experience. In the present study about mood - emotion interaction, 29 sheep were kept under predictable, stimulus-rich or unpredictable, stimulus-poor housing conditions, to induce different mood states.

Frontal brain deactivation during a non-verbal cognitive judgement bias test in sheep.

Animal welfare concerns have raised an interest in animal affective states. These states also play an important role in the proximate control of behaviour. Due to their potential to modulate short-term emotional reactions, one specific focus is on long-term affective states, that is, mood.

Dog behavior but not frontal brain reaction changes in repeated positive interactions with a human: a non-invasive pilot study using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

This study was conducted as a pilot test case to investigate potential behavioral and neural indicators of positive emotional states in dogs. These states were induced by subjecting each dog to three types of human interactions (verbal contact only, physical contact only, or both). Each stimulus was repeated 10 times, at 1-min intervals, alternating with a baseline phase (no interaction) while behavior was observed and frontal cortical brain activation was recorded by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

Influence of floor surface and access to pasture on claw characteristics in dairy cows kept in cubicle housing systems.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of the floor type used in the walking area of cubicle housing systems and of access to pasture on claw dimensions and claw shape in dairy cows. Data were collected on 36 farms, 12 farms each fitted with mastic asphalt, slatted concrete or solid rubber flooring. With each floor type, cows on half of the farms had access to pasture in summer.

Valence of physical stimuli, not housing conditions, affects behaviour and frontal cortical brain activity in sheep.

Modulation of short-term emotions by long-term mood is little understood but relevant to understand the affective system and of importance in respect to animal welfare: a negative mood might taint experiences, whilst a positive mood might alleviate single negative events. To induce different mood states in sheep housing conditions were varied. Fourteen ewes were group-housed in an unpredictable, stimulus-poor and 15 ewes in a predictable, stimulus-rich environment.

Prefrontal cortex activity, sympatho-vagal reaction and behaviour distinguish between situations of feed reward and frustration in dwarf goats.

Recent concepts relating to animal welfare accept that animals experience affective states. These are notoriously difficult to measure in non-verbal species, but it is generally agreed that emotional reactions consist of well-coordinated reactions in behaviour, autonomic and brain activation. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether each or a combination of these aspects can differentiate between situations presumed to differ in emotional content.

Are head cues necessary for goats (Capra hircus) in recognising group members?

In this study, we investigated whether goats can distinguish a member of their own group from one belonging to a different group even when the head of the goat in question cannot be seen. In the experiment, a total of 45 adult female goats (walkers) were trained to walk along a passageway at the end of which they learnt to expect food (trial run). Walking down this corridor, they passed another adult female goat (stimulus goat) whose trunk and hind legs alone were visible.

Influence of floor surface and access to pasture on claw health in dairy cows kept in cubicle housing systems.

In this study, the effects on the claw health of dairy cows of three different floor types and access to pasture were investigated on 35 farms. The farms were fitted with a given floor type in the indoor walking area of a cubicle housing system: a solid rubber, mastic asphalt or slatted concrete floor. Because we chose farms on which the given floor type was in good condition, the data presented show what can be achieved on these types of floors under ideal circumstances.

In vivo functional near-infrared spectroscopy measures mood-modulated cerebral responses to a positive emotional stimulus in sheep.

The affective state of an animal, which is thought to reflect its welfare, consists of both short-term emotional reactions and long-term general mood. Because this state is generated and processed by the brain, we used non-invasive measurement of such brain activity as a novel indicator variable and investigated the interplay of mood and short-term emotional reactions in animals. We developed a wireless sensor for functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which assesses cortical perfusion changes, and consequently neuronal activity.

Physiological expression of emotional reactions in sheep.

With the aim of judging emotional valence from an animal's perspective, multiple physiological variables were recorded in sheep when they were exposed to situations likely to induce negative and positive emotional states. Fourteen sheep were conditioned for several weeks to anticipate the delivery of standard feed. In three experimental trials carried out thereafter, the animals' expectations regarding feed quality were either fulfilled by offering the familiar standard feed (control), frustrated by giving unpalatable wooden pellets (negative treatment) or surpassed by delivering enriched feed (positive treatment).

Cardiac activity in dairy goats whilst feeding side-by-side at two different distances and during social separation.

When loose-housed dairy goats feed in close proximity to each other, frequent social conflicts are often reported. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the cardiac activity of dairy goats is affected when they are obliged to feed side-by-side in close proximity. In five dyads of goats each stemming from eight groups (8x5 dyads) differing in terms of grouping age and presence of horns, heart rate (HR) and root mean square of successive beat-to-beat differences (RMSSD) as a parameter of heart-rate variability were measured in two experimental situations differing in distance during feeding.

Comparison of functional aspects in two automatic milking systems and auto-tandem milking parlors.

Milk yield, milking frequency, intermilking interval, teat-cup attachment success rate, and length of the milking procedure are important functional aspects of automatic milking systems (AMS). In this study, these variables were compared for 2 different models of AMS (AMS-1, with free cow traffic, and AMS-2, with selectively guided cow traffic) and auto-tandem milking parlors (ATM) on 4 farms each. Data on milking-stall visits and milkings of 20 cows were recorded on 3 successive days by means of video observations.

Milk cortisol concentration in automatic milking systems compared with auto-tandem milking parlors.

Milk cortisol concentration was determined under routine management conditions on 4 farms with an auto-tandem milking parlor and 8 farms with 1 of 2 automatic milking systems (AMS). One of the AMS was a partially forced (AMSp) system, and the other was a free cow traffic (AMSf) system. Milk samples were collected for all the cows on a given farm (20 to 54 cows) for at least 1 d.

Leg lesions and cleanliness of finishing bulls kept in housing systems with different lying area surfaces.

The influence of the quality of different lying surfaces on lesions and swellings at the joints as well as on the cleanliness of finishing bulls throughout the fattening period was studied. On 17 farms (623 bulls), pens with fully slatted concrete floors (CONCRETE), with rubber coated slats (RUBBER), with cubicles (CUBICLES, provided with five different types of soft lying mat) and with a littered lying area (STRAW) were compared. Bulls kept on STRAW developed the smallest lesion scores at the joints.