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Dairy cattle preference for different types of outdoor access and their influence on dairy cattle behaviour

University of British Columbia

Worldwide, the public views pasture as important for dairy cattle to have a good life; dairy cows are highly motivated to access pasture. However, the majority of dairy cows in North America are housed indoors year-round and globally, pasture access is declining. Alternative outdoor areas generally require less space than pasture and may thus be easier to implement. In this dissertation, I examined dairy cow preference for various outdoor areas and how these areas influenced cow behaviour. Chapter 1 reviews how tie- and free-stall housing influence cattle behaviour and how this compares when cows are kept on, or given access to, pasture or another type of outdoor area. Chapter 2 investigates the preference of free-stall housed cows for an outdoor sand pack versus a pasture during the night. When provided simultaneous access to both options, cows spent more time on pasture than on the sand pack (90.5±2.6% versus 0.8±0.5% of the night respectively). When only pasture was available, cows spent 90.0±5.9% of their time outside; this declined to 44.4±6.3% of their time when only a sand pack was available. Chapter 3 investigates cow preference for an outdoor wood-chip pack during summer and winter. Cows spent 25.3±4.3% of their time outside in summer and 1.8±0.6% in winter. In summer, cows spent more time on the outdoor pack during the night (50.0±8.4%) than during the day (3.3±1.3%), but this effect was absent in winter (day:1.7± 0.7%; night:2.1±1.0%). Chapter 4 examines the effect of outdoor space allowance on cow behaviour and preference to be outdoors. During the night, cows spent more time outside with increasing outdoor space; outdoor space did not affect the number of agonistic interactions outside. Chapter 5 investigates the effects of an outdoor pack on oestrus behaviours and showed that access to an outdoor pack facilitated the expression of these behaviours. Overall, dairy cows have a partial preference for an alternative outdoor area but preferred pasture over an outdoor sand pack during the night, potentially due to a bigger space allowance on pasture or due to the ability to graze; access to an outdoor pack facilitates oestrus behaviours.

Text

2019-09-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/71806

Applied Animal Biology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/