Associations between locomotion score and behavioral aspects of dairy cattle measured by sensors

Abstract

Although lameness is not always clearly visible, this study showed that it strongly affects a cow’s behavior. The study involved 520 cows from 8 Dutch dairy farms. The cows were visually scored on their locomotion (score 1-5) at four scoring moments: the beginning and end of the dry period, and in week 4 and 8 postpartum. All cows were equipped with two sensors, one leg-sensor and one neck-sensor, that measured daily eating time, number of eating bouts per day, duration per eating bout, daily lying time, number of lying bouts per day, duration per lying bout, daily ruminating time and number of steps. Locomotion groups 1 and 2 were grouped together as non-lame and were compared with locomotion groups 3, 4 and 5 (lame cows). Lame cows had shorter daily eating times and less eating bouts per day. Lame cows had longer daily lying times, longer lying bouts, slightly shorter daily rumination times and took fewer steps per day than non-lame cows, increasing with the degree of lameness. The prevalence of lameness was high during the transition period, especially in the early lactation, and increased over time. At 8 weeks postpartum, more than half of the cows (52,5%) were lame (locomotion score ≥ 3). This could lead to a reduced production, postpartum diseases, an extended calving interval and a higher culling rate. But above all, welfare of lame cows is affected. This indicates that there is much to be done in the field of claw health and farm management.