Browsing by Subject "activity"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Alternative Housing and Management for Organic Dairy Production
    (2015-01) Sjostrom, Lucas
    Organic cows (n = 57) were used to evaluate activity, rumination time and their correlation with pasture fly activity of cows fed 3 grain supplementation strategies during the grazing season from May to September 2013. Cows were assigned to 1 of 3 replicate supplementation groups: 1) no corn grain supplementation (100% pasture, GRASS, n = 19), 2) low corn grain (2.72 kg/head/day, LO, n = 19), and 3) high corn grain (5.44 kg/head/day, HI, n = 19), and calved during 2 seasons (fall and spring) at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, Morris, from October to December 2012 and March to May 2013. Supplement (organic corn grain and minerals) was fed with a TMR of corn silage and alfalfa silage, and at least 30% of diet DMI for LOW and HI cows consisted of organic pasture. Activity and rumination time (daily and 2-h periods) were monitored electronically using HR-LD Tags (SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel) for 125 days. Activity is reported in “activity units” from SCR DataFlow II software. The PROC HPMIXED of SAS was used for statistical analysis, and independent variables were season of calving (fall or spring), month of grazing (June to September), parity (1, 2, 3+), supplementation group and the interactions of month of grazing and supplementation group, and parity and supplementation group. Cow and replicate were random effects with repeated measures. The GRASS (1,138) cows had greater daily activity than HI (1,001) cows, but were similar to LO (1,019) cows. Daily activity was greatest during July (1,258) and least during September (819). Rumination was not different for the GRASS (397 min/d), LOW (384 min/d), and HI (370 min/d) cows. Daily rumination was greater during September (402 min/d) compared to July (361 min/d). Daily activity increased rapidly from h 6:00 and 8:00 to h 16:00 and 18:00. From h 18:00 to 20:00, cows had a rapid decline in activity until h 6:00 the next day. All supplementation groups had the greatest rumination during h 2:00 and 4:00 and the least during h 10:00 and 12:00. Greater activity of cows on a herd basis was moderately correlated with increased pasture fly prevalence. Monthly activity and rumination patterns of grazing organic cows may have been influenced by the weather and fly populations.
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    Characterization of peripartum rumination and activity of cows diagnosed with health disorders postpartum
    (2015-06) Liboreiro, Daniela
    The objectives of the current observational study were to characterize the correlation among total serum Ca, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) and haptoglobin concentrations and daily rumination time (DRT) and activity of periparturient cows, and to determine the association between periparturient events and peripartum DRT and activity. Holstein cows from one commercial dairy farm (nulliparous = 77, parous = 219) were enrolled into the study at approximately 21 d before expected calving date. Cows were fitted with individual Heat Rumination Long Distance system (HRLD, SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel) from enrollment until approximately 21 � d postpartum. Blood samples collected weekly from enrollment to 21 d postpartum were used to determine concentrations of NEFA, BHBA, and haptoglobin. Blood samples collected within 72 h after calving were used to determine total serum Ca concentration. Sub-clinical ketosis was characterized by BHBA > 1,000 [mu]mol/L in any sample and sub-clinical hypocalcemia was characterized by Ca < 8.55 ng/dL within 72 h after calving. Cows were examined 1, 7 � 3 and 14 � 3 d postpartum for diagnosis of retained fetal membrane and metritis. Total Ca (r = 0.15), NEFA (r = -0.27), and haptoglobin (r = -0.18) concentrations were weakly correlated with DRT. Concentration of BHBA (r = -0.14) was weakly correlated with activity. Postpartum DRT was reduced among cows that delivered twins compared with cows that delivered singletons (385.9 � 17.1 vs 437.9 � 4.8 min/d). Prepartum (430.8 � 14. vs 465.8 � 4.19 arbitrary unit) and postpartum (480.3 � 19.4 vs. 536.5 � 5.5 arbitrary unit) activity were reduced among cows that delivered twins compared with cows that delivered singletons. Delivery of stillborn calves was associated with reduced DRT prepartum (417.0 � 23.4 vs. 478.0 � 5.9 min/d) and postpartum (386.5 � 19.3 vs 437.2 � 4.8 min/d). On the other hand, cows delivering stillborn calves had increased activity prepartum compared with cows delivering live calves (499.3 � 16.2 vs. 461.3 � 4.1 arbitrary unit). Occurrence of retained fetal membrane tended to and was associated with reduced prepartum (444.3 � 11.0 vs. 466.5 � 4.3 arbitrary unit) and postpartum (488.2 � 14.5 vs. 538.8 � 5.7 arbitrary unit) activity, respectively. Cows diagnosed with metritis had reduced postpartum DRT (415.9 � 10.1 vs 441.0 � 5.2 min/d) and activity (512.5 � 11.5 vs. 539.2 � 6.0 arbitrary unit) as compared to cows not diagnosed with metritis. Postpartum activity was reduced among cows that were diagnosed with sub-clinical ketosis (502.20 � 16.5 vs. 536.6 � 6.2 arbitrary unit). Although differences in DRT and activity between populations of cows that developed periparturient diseases and healthy cows were observed, further studies are necessary to determine whether (and how) DRT and activity data may be used to precociously diagnose individuals that will develop such periparturient diseases.
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    Observational study evaluating the association of hoof trimming with dairy cattle behavior and milk yield in Canada and the United Kingdom
    (Journal of Dairy Science Communications, 2024) Stoddard, Grant; Cramer, Gerard
    The study describes associations between preventive hoof trimming (HT) of nonlesion dairy cows and resting time, step activity, and milk yield on 4 commercial herds. Differences between the baseline values (5-day average before HT) for all outcomes and values on the day of HT and the 7 days following HT were analyzed. Resting time and activity had an inverse relationship, with resting time decreasing and activity increasing on the day of HT compared with baseline. Average resting time across the 7-day post-HT was greater on most farms than baseline. Milk yield changes on the day of HT were highly variable by farm, but all farms had an average decrease in yield (0.6–1.3 kg/d) across the 7 days post-HT. Results were farm dependent, possibly due to differences in the HT process and time away from pen, requiring further study.