CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page i Cattle Behaviour and Welfare CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page ii CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page iii Cattle Behaviour and Welfare Second Edition CLIVE PHILLIPS BSc, MA, PhD Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page iv © 2002 Blackwell Science Ltd, First Edition published as Cattle Behaviourby a Blackwell Publishing Company the Farming Press 1993 Editorial Offices: Second Edition published 2002 by Blackwell Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0EL, UK Science Ltd Tel:+44 (0)1865 206206 Blackwell Science, Inc., 350 Main Street, Library of Congress Malden, MA 02148-5018, USA Cataloging-in-Publication is available Tel:+1 781 388 8250 Iowa State Press, a Blackwell Publishing ISBN 0-632-05645-2 Company, 2121 State Avenue, Ames, Iowa 50014-8300, USA A catalogue record for this title is available Tel:+1 515 292 0140 from the British Library Blackwell Science Asia Pty Ltd, 550 Swanston Street, Carlton South, Melbourne, Set in Times and produced by Victoria 3053, Australia Gray Publishing, Tunbridge Wells, Kent Tel:+61 (0)3 9347 0300 Printed and bound in Great Britain Blackwell Wissenschafts Verlag, by MPGBooks Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall Kurfürstendamm 57, 10707 Berlin, Germany Tel:+49 (0)30 32 79 060 For further information on Blackwell Science, visit our website: The right of the Author to be identified as www.blackwell-science.com the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page v Contents Preface vii 1 Introduction to cattle welfare 1 Definition and measurement; Determining the optimum welfare for cattle – moral issues; Determining the optimum welfare for cattle – evidence from wild cattle; Conclusion. 2 The welfare of dairy cows 10 Introduction; Hunger and malnutrition; Diseases; Milking; Housing; Social influences; Tail docking. 3 The welfare of beef cattle and draft oxen 23 Introduction; Undernutrition; Housing and pasture; Dystokia; Oxen used for traction and other work. 4 The welfare of calves 30 Perinatal calf behaviour; Housing/environment; Social influences; Nutrition; Diseases; Handling and management; Veal calves. 5 The welfare of cattle during transport, marketing and slaughter 38 Transport; Markets; Slaughter. 6 Environmental perception and cognition 49 Introduction; Vision; Hearing; Olfaction; Taste; Epidermal receptors; Nociception and pain; Perception of temperature; Perception of electric and magnetic fields; Perception of humans. 7 Acquisition of behaviour and the use of selective breeding to improve welfare 62 Innate or learnt?; Methods of learning; Breeding for improved welfare; Ethical considerations of the relationship between animal breeding and animal welfare. 8 Play behaviour 78 What is play?; Functions of play. CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page vi vi Contents 9 Social behaviour 84 Introduction; Social interactions; Social organisation; Temperament. 10 Nutritional behaviour 123 Introduction; Food procurement and ingestion; Environmental factors affecting feeding behaviour; Feeding apparatus; Rumination; Drinking; Elimination. 11 Reproductive behaviour 152 Reproductive strategy; The ontogeny of reproductive behaviour; The female oestrus; Sexuality in the male; Parturient behaviour. 12 Locomotion and movement 179 Locomotion; Other forms of movement; Behaviour during handling. 13 Resting behaviour 198 Lying; Sleep. 14 Behavioural adaptation to inadequate environments 208 Behavioural needs; Behavioural problems; Conclusion. 15 The relationship between cattle and man 217 Introduction – the domestic contract; Conclusion. References 225 Index 258 CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page vii Preface This book evolved from an initial publication on cattle behaviour (Phillips, 1993), which was written primarily for farmers and students of farming systems. The intimate relationship between the behaviour of cattle and their welfare encouraged me to develop the original text into one dealing with the welfare of cattle and its relation to their behaviour. The welfare of cattle has been much studied in the last decade, as farm animal welfare has been a prominent topic for debate and research, and this book attempts to review the recent research. Welfare can mean different things to different people and this is discussed as the topic is placed in context. It would be impossible to describe all the possible adverse conditions that could affect the welfare of cattle, so the principal influ- ences are summarised for the different types of production – dairy, beef, calves and draft oxen. Two particularly important influences – humans and transport systems – are given chapters of their own. In the increasing pressure to intensify cattle production, people often ignore the fact that the unit in the factory production system is a higher mammal, with complex mental and physical needs. An attempt to evaluate the welfare of cattle in a system of production must start with their perception of the system, progress to their choice of components of the system and end with a description of their behavioural reaction to the system. Their physiological response can also be measured and may be related to their metabolism and even production rate, but it usually bears little relationship to behaviour and to the adequacy of the envi- ronment. The latter is best indicated by the ability to display normal behaviour patterns and the absence of abnormal, deleterious behaviour. For humans, the behaviour of cattle is a signal about their well-being; for cattle, it is the reaction to the environment as they perceive it, modified by the innate motivation to per- form the behaviours. Studying the behaviour of cattle is probably one of the youngest and also one of the oldest sciences. The first students of cattle behaviour were undoubtedly our primeval ancestors. Many of the physical attributes of cattle rendered them unsuitable for domestication, in particular their large size and the low pro- portion of muscle tissues in the areas giving desirable meat cuts, such as the loin. However, aspects of cattle behaviour and their ability to thrive on grasses of little value to man led early man to choose cattle as the major domesticated animal. Their limited agility, gregarious social structure, the promiscuity of the male and CB&W_Prelims.qxd 16/07/2002 09:19 Page viii viii Preface extravert receptivity display by the female, as well as the precocial development of the young, are probably responsible for the relative ease with which they must have entered into a symbiotic relationship with man. The passion for salt, which they shared with man, provided an easy means of controlling them which is still in use with the relatives of cattle nowadays. Domestication therefore led to sig- nificant benefits to both cattle and man and a mutual respect evolved. Nowadays the study of cattle behaviour is no less important. Cattle are still our major domesticated animal, contributing worldwide almost 18% of man’s pro- tein intake and 9% of our energy intake, as well as draft power, hides and dung for fuel. Veterinarians utilise cattle behavioural signals for disease diagnosis, and livestock handlers and farmers can derive useful information on the health of the stock in their charge from their behaviour. As well as discussing the major influ- ences on welfare, this book describes the major behaviour patterns in cattle, their ontogeny and their purpose. It is intended for all involved in the study of animal welfare and ethology, as well as students of animal science, agriculture and veterinary medicine. It is also hoped that it will be of interest to advisers in cattle husbandry and leading farmers. I acknowledge CAB International for permission to reproduce part of an article already published (Phillips, 1997). Clive Phillips Cambridge, UK CB&W_Text.qxd 16/07/2002 09:20 Page 1 Chapter 1 Introduction to Cattle Welfare Definition and measurement The welfare of an animal relates primarily to its ability to cope, both with its external environment, including housing, weather and the presence of other ani- mals, and with its internal environment, such as specific pains, fever and nutri- tional status. An instantaneous assessment of the welfare of cattle would ideally concentrate on their feelings at the time, which would be influenced by their genetic predisposition, by recent experiences, by their environment at the time of assessment and by any anticipation of future events, such as feeding. However, feelings are difficult to measure and the assessment is more likely to concentrate on more easily quantified parameters, such as the strength of their preference for different environments. A long-term assessment of welfare, for example over the lifetime of an animal, should evaluate the degree to which the animal has been in harmony with its envi- ronment, and will include such aspects as whether it could perform behaviours to which it is genetically predisposed, e.g. suckling in infancy, whether the prevalence of disease was unacceptably high, and the extent to which it achieved nutritional and thermal comfort and homeostasis, and adequate rest and exercise (Fig. 1.1). Fig. 1.1 The different degrees of welfare, assessment and the impact on the animal. CB&W_Text.qxd 16/07/2002 09:20 Page 2 2 Cattle behaviour and welfare As the animal passes from a good to a worse environment it moves from a state of harmony, or equilibrium, to one where it recognises an environmental deteriora- tion. This can be detected experimentally by preference tests, indicating which environment the animal prefers. These must be treated with caution for several reasons: animals may give an exaggerated or diminished response according to previous experience, they may not be sufficiently experienced to choose the best environment for themselves in the long term and their immediate reaction may differ substantially from their long-term one if they are attracted by the novelty of one or more of the environments. A cognitive imbalance may turn into a physio- logical imbalance if the environment progressively deteriorates. Later pain may be felt and injuries sustained, both of which will tend to cause abnormal behaviour. Disease may follow and may result ultimately in death of the animal. We may also evaluate the extent to which an animal is able to perpetuate the bovine species through reproduction. This is related to welfare, because courtship and copulation are natural behaviours that cattle have a strong drive to perform. However, it cannot be claimed that the welfare of a semen-donating bull is necessarily any greater than a bull slaughtered for meat. It is likely to be worse if he becomes lame. It is therefore not a simple relationship between reproductive behaviour and welfare, but man often assumes the management of reproduction as part of their ‘domestic contract’ with animals. In this contract, we provide basic requirements – food, water, a suitable environment, medical care and companionship – but we take away freedoms that the animal would have in the wild – choice of mate, companion, food, freedom of movement, etc. We also reduce the longevity of cattle kept for the production of beef, because as they get older their growth rate declines and they have increasingly more fat in the carcase. Most dairy cows have a short life, because of the stress of many lactations and the poor conditions that they are often kept in. In intensive dairy systems they only last on average for about three lactations in the milk-produc- ing herd. This will be considered by many to be evidence of inadequate welfare. The management of the domestic contract, and the issue of whether cattle should be allowed to reproduce naturally, are principally moral issues. In the case of reproduction, the opportunities for highly selective breeding by artificial means not only prevent cows from performing natural copulation, but also may compromise the future of the species by limiting the genotype diversity. Presently cattle are selectively bred to be either high milk producers or fast growing meat animals. In future, their ability to survive on by-products, straw, human food residues, etc., may be of greater importance if increased population pressure dictates that land can no longer be used solely to grow feed for cattle. Also, the efficient use of nutrients such as nitrogen may be of special importance to increase production efficiency and reduce nitrogen pollution in excreta. The future welfare of the species should be considered in relation to breeding policies, but this is unlikely to be done by individual farmers who cannot be expected to predict or respond to the economic situation in the distant future. A prudent approach would be to maintain sufficient cattle breed diversity for all