We explored which aspects of dairy cow behaviour provide measures of cow comfort and how housing affects resting time. Following a crossover design, we observed the behaviour of eight lactating Holstein cows kept for three weeks in stalls believed to represent a contrast in comfort. Cows individually housed in large pens with a mattress flooring lay down 4.2 h d⁻¹ longer than cows housed in tie-stalls on a concrete floor, while cows in tie-stalls stood idle (without eating) for longer. Cows stood up and lay down more often in the large pens and the duration of individual standing bouts was longer in tie-stalls. We found no differences in eating time and few differences in body, head or leg positions cows assumed while lying. There was little evidence of diurnal rhythm in activity. A lower frequency of standing and lying and an increase in the duration of lying bouts suggests that in tie-stalls cows are more reluctant to change position from lying to standing. The type of pen or stall in which cows are housed can have a substantial impact on resting time. The duration and frequency of lying behaviour and the time spent standing without eating appear to be probable behavioural indicators of cow comfort. Key words: Behaviour, cow comfort, housing, lying, resting

Lameness is a severe welfare problem and a production-limiting disease in dairy farming. The objectives of this study were to determine prevalence of lameness and investigate cow- and herd-level factors associated with lameness in dairy cows housed in freestall barns in 3 Canadian provinces. A purposive sample of 40 Holstein-Friesian cows was selected from each of 141 dairy farms in Québec, Ontario, and Alberta. In total, 5,637 cows were scored once for lameness (presence of limping when walking). Data collected included information on individual cows (hock lesions, claw length, body condition score, parity, days in milk, and milk production), management practices (floor and stall cleaning routine, bedding routine, and footbath practices), and facility design (stall dimensions, stall base and bedding type, width of feed alley, flooring type, and slipperiness) hypothesized to be risk factors for lameness. Multilevel mixed logistic regression models were constructed (including farm as a random effect and province as a fixed effect). Herd-level lameness prevalence ranged from 0 to 69% (mean = 21%). Lameness prevalence increased with increasing parity; compared with first parity, cows in parity 2, 3, and ≥ 4 had 1.6, 3.3, and 4 times, respectively, higher odds of being lame. Furthermore, the odds of lameness were 1.6 times greater in cows with low body condition score (≤ 2.5) than in cows with a higher body condition score. In addition, injured hocks and overgrown claws were associated with 1.4- and 1.7-fold increased odds of being lame, respectively, whereas every 1 kg increase in daily milk production was associated with a 3% decrease in the odds of being lame. Lameness prevalence was higher in herds with ≤ 100 cows, but lower in barns with a sand or dirt stall base, or with bedding ≥ 2 cm deep. Cows exposed to very slippery floors had 2 times the odds of being lame compared with cows exposed to nonslippery floors. We attributed the wide range of lameness prevalence to the great variability in facilities and management practices among farms. Finally, we inferred that the prevalence of lameness could be decreased by improving management of multiparous, thin, or injured cows and by adopting management practices intended to improve cow comfort, namely the floor's slip resistance and the stall's lying surface.

Four trials were conducted to explore possible advantages of weaning beef calves in two stages compared with the traditional method of weaning by abrupt separation. In the two-stage treatment, calves were prevented from nursing their dam for a period (Stage 1) before their separation (Stage 2). Control calves nursed from their dams until they were separated. Calf weights and behavior were recorded before and after the separation of cows and calves. Following separation, calves weaned in two stages vocalized 96.6% less (P = 0.001) and spent 78.9% less time walking (P = 0.001), 23.0% more time eating (P = 0.001), and 24.1% more time resting (P = 0.001) than control calves. Compared with controls, two-stage calves had lower (P < 0.001) ADG when nursing was deprived (Stage 1), but greater (P < 0.001) ADG during the 7 d following separation. In Trial 3, calves weaned by the two-stage method had greater (P = 0.05) growth rates than control calves for 7 wk after separation, but no treatment effects on ADG were detected (P > 0.38) in Trials 1 and 2. Over the entire study period (before and after separation), ADG did not differ (P > 0.10) for both treatments. In Trial 4, calves weaned in two stages walked 1.3 km/d more (P < 0.05) during the 4-d period when nursing was prevented (Stage 1) and 5.8 km/d less (P < 0.05) during the 4-d period after separation than controls. Differences between treatments were the greatest in the 2 d after separation. On the first day after separation, two-stage calves walked 5.2 ± 0.5 km/ d, whereas control calves walked 16.7 ± 3.1 km/d. Calves weaned in two stages were less distressed than calves weaned by the traditional method of abrupt separation based on behavioral data, but overall calf ADG did not differ for either method in this study. Nutritional management of two-stage weaned calves during the nursing-deprived period should be evaluated in future research because poor pasture conditions may have decreased gains by calves weaned by the two-stage method in this study.

Lying behavior is an important measure of comfort and well-being in dairy cattle, and changes in lying behavior are potential indicators and predictors of lameness. Our objectives were to determine individual and herd-level risk factors associated with measures of lying behavior, and to evaluate whether automated measures of lying behavior can be used to detect lameness. A purposive sample of 40 Holstein cows was selected from each of 141 dairy farms in Alberta, Ontario, and Québec. Lying behavior of 5,135 cows between 10 and 120 d in milk was automatically and continuously recorded using accelerometers over 4 d. Data on factors hypothesized to influence lying behavior were collected, including information on individual cows, management practices, and facility design. Associations between predictor variables and measures of lying behavior were assessed using generalized linear mixed models, including farm and province as random and fixed effects, respectively. Logistic regression models were used to determine whether lying behavior was associated with lameness. At the cow-level, daily lying time increased with increasing days in milk, but this effect interacted with parity; primiparous cows had more frequent but shorter lying bouts in early lactation, changing to mature-cow patterns of lying behavior (fewer and longer lying bouts) in late lactation. In barns with stall curbs >22 cm high, the use of sand or >2 cm of bedding was associated with an increased average daily lying time of 1.44 and 0.06 h/d, respectively. Feed alleys ≥ 350 cm wide or stalls ≥ 114 cm wide were associated with increased daily lying time of 0.39 and 0.33 h/d, respectively, whereas rubber flooring in the feed alley was associated with 0.47 h/d lower average lying time. Lame cows had longer lying times, with fewer, longer, and more variable duration of bouts compared with nonlame cows. In that regard, cows with lying time ≥ 14 h/d, ≤ 5 lying bouts per day, bout duration ≥ 110 min/bout, or standard deviations of bout duration over 4 d ≥ 70 min had 3.7, 1.7, 2.5, and 3.0 higher odds of being lame, respectively. Factors related to comfort of lying and standing surfaces significantly affected lying behavior. Finally, we inferred that automated measures of lying behavior could contribute to lameness detection, especially when interpreted in the context of other factors known to affect lying behavior, including those associated with the individual cow (e.g., parity and stage of lactation) or environment (e.g., stall surface).

Eighty-nine steer and bull calves (210 ± 20 d of age) were randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments to study the effect of sham or band castration (CAST) with or without pain medication (MED) on performance, behavior, cortisol, and Escherichia coli shedding. Steers (serving as controls; C) were previously castrated at 34 ± 10 d of age, whereas bulls (B) remained intact until band application on d 20 of the experiment. One-half of the calves in each group received pain medication (M; xylazine epidural and intravenous flunixin meglumine) or saline (NM) solutions at 0.5 h before castration. Feed intake, ADG, and feeding behavior were measured over a 3-wk period before (used as covariates) and a 6-wk period after castration. Fecal and saliva samples were collected from 32 calves for E. coli enumeration at −7 (covariate), 2, 5, and 7 d, and for cortisol concentration at −0.5 (covariate), 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 24, 48, 168, and 336 h relative to castration, respectively. Lying behavior was measured in the home pen and step length at exit from the chute. There were no significant CAST × MED interactions on growth rate or feed intake. Overall ADG was less in B compared with C (P < 0.001), but feed intake was less during wk 4 only (P = 0.01). On average, M had less intake (P = 0.02) and eating rate (P = 0.04) than NM calves. The BM had less fecal E. coli counts than CM (P = 0.05) and castrated and nonmedicated calves (P = 0.08). Salivary cortisol was less in BM compared with the rest of treatments at 1 and 2 h after banding (P ≤ 0.05). Castration reduced time spent lying (P = 0.06) and step length (P = 0.01) until d 28 after banding, whereas M reduced lying and step length on day of banding only (P ≤ 0.06). Significant CAST × MED interactions were observed for frequency of visits to feeders and meal size, length, and frequency (P < 0.05) independent of the time after castration. This was due to greater values in the noncastrated and non-pain-medicated group compared with the rest, except for reduced meal frequency, indicating that pain medication and castration both affected feeding behavior. The medication protocol used in the present study eliminated the acute cortisol surge, which may be linked to reduced fecal E. coli counts observed during wk 1 after banding. However, feed intake, growth, and behavior suggested that pain was greatest during wk 3 and 4 after band application, which highlights the need for chronic pain mitigation strategies.