Dairy cattle preference for different types of outdoor access and their influence on dairy cattle behaviour
department or school: Land and Food Systems, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Smid, Anne-Marieke Cathérine
issued: 2019-09-30T15:50:55Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: 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 …
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/71806
note: DAIRY CATTLE PREFERENCE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF OUTDOOR ACCESS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON DAIRY CATTLE BEHAVIOUR by Anne-Marieke Cathérine Smid BSc, Wageningen University, 2013 MSc, Wageningen University, 2015 MSc, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2015 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Applied Animal Biology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) September 2019 © Anne-Marieke Cathérine Smid, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: DAIRY CATTLE PREFERENCE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF OUTDOOR ACCESS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON DAIRY CATTLE BEHAVIOUR submitted by Anne-Marieke Cathérine Smid in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Animal Biology Examining Committee: Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk Supervisor Daniel M. Weary Supervisory Committee Member Sean Smukler Supervisory Committee Member David Fraser University Examiner Kenneth Craig University Examiner iii Abstract 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 provid…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2019-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0381042
language: eng
degree discipline: Applied Animal Biology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/71806