ANSC 2050 Dr. Mark Williams Exam 1

Ethology

study of the behavior of animals in their natural surroundings, with focus on instinctive or innate behavior

Instinctive and learned behaviors

1. Instinct - present at birth

2. Habituation - Lack of response to repeated stimulus, conditioning

3. Trial and Error - trying different responses until the correct one is performed, tied to a reward

4. Reasoning - correct response to stimulus the first time. Intelligence and memory (short term and long term)

5. Imprinting - bonding process, mostly for recognition purposes.

Systems of Animal Behavior

1. Sexual

2. Care-giving

3. Care soliciting

4. Agonistic

5. Ingestive

6. Eliminative

7. Shelter seeking

8. Investigative

9. Allelomimetic

Sexual Behavior

Observations are useful (heat or estrus, know when to breed)

Pheremones - used to attract opposite sex

Cow and bull: visual, female stands to be mounted

Sow and boar: boar produces pheromones, sow seeks out the boar

Mare and stallion: Mare stays in heat for 5-7 days, but only ovulates last 48 hours

Sheep: put marker on male to see which females have been mounted to tell which ones are in heat

Mostly instinctive behavior

Care-giving behavior

Mostly maternally oriented

Protection, licking to clean and stimulate breathing

Care soliciting behavior

Young crying for help when distressed, disturbed, or hungry

Vocal sounds - calfs bawl

Lambing jug

mom and baby put into small area for a few days to enforce bonding

Agonistic behavior

Fight or flight

Kick, bite, stomp, head butt

Aggressive or passive

Interactions with other animals - males fight each other for dominance

Establishing social dominance: offense, defense, escape, passivity

Females usually not as aggressive, calm down 2-3 weeks after birth

Interactions with humans

Disposition formed through experiences and inheritance (genetics)

Behavior during handling and restraint - animal remember positive and negative experiences

Livestock respond well to positive experiences

Blood odor can appear offensive

Ingestive behavior

eating and drinking, grazing

Rumination - cattle lay down after eating to ruminate

Relation to water access

How do we manage pasture/range

Climate can have an impact (low temps, eat more to produce heat)

Cattle, horses, and sheep have palatability preferences, often don't like change

Eliminative behavior

Feces and urine

Cattle, sheep, goats, horses and chickens are indiscriminate

Hogs will defecate in a particular area

Horses will defecate on another horse's scent

Indication of health, affected by food and water intake

Elimination affected by stress - shrink loss during cattle transport

Daily cattle defecation

12-18 times

Daily horse defecation

5-12 times

Daily urination

7-11 times per day

Shelter seeking behavior

Shade and rest for rumination (cattle and sheep)

Wet area for cooling - pigs

Crowding when cold (can lead to smothering)

Investigative behavior

curiosity

common in pigs, horses, dairy goats, and somewhat in cattle

sheep less curious and more timid

Novel items

Allelomimetic behavior

Doing same thing at same time, herding behavior

Sows grouped together tend to eat at same times everyday

Depends in weather and environment

Understanding this behavior helps to recognize abnormal behavior

Maladaptive or abnormal behaviors

Animals that cannot adapt to a new environment or exhibit inappropriate behavior

More prevalent with chickens (pluck feather and peck at each other) and pigs (tail chewing and cannibalism)

Buller-steer syndrome: common health and economic prolem in feedlot operations. Certain steers are more attractive for mounting. As one mounts, more do the same. 1-3% of feedlot steer herd. Can cause injury, reduced weight gain, and additional labor/equipment

Why is it important to understand livestock behavior?

Can facilitate handling and improve both handler safety and animal welfare. Reducing stress on animals improves productivity.

Temperament

One determinant of how animal will react during handling

Determined by interaction between substantial genetic effect and environmental factors.

Major component is fearfulness - reduce stress

Measuring blood cortisol levels = measuring animal's response to a stressor

Also influenced by previous experiences and handling - fear memories from subcortical circuit allows animal to flee quickly

Effects of novelty

Strong stressor

Paradox - intense reaction when suddenly introduced, but may be attracted to novel object when allowed to approach it voluntarily

Animals raised in variable environment = less stressed when confronted by novelty

Vision

Livestock have wide-angle vision; cattle, pigs, and sheep have visual field of more than 300 degrees - can be distracted by 80% of environment around them

Sight restriction can lower stress levels

Lighting should be relatively uniform, poor depth perception

Sudden color or texture changes can cause animal to balk

Noise

Unexpected or novel noise can be highly stressful

Animals readily adapt to reasonable levels of continuous noise

Small amounts of noise can be used to move livestock (whistles)

Flight Zone

The animal's safety zone

When a person enters an animal's flight zone, the animal moves away

The size of the enclosure may affect flight zone

Approaching an animal at its head seems to increase flight zone size

The size of the flight zone slowly diminishes when an animal receives frequent, gentle handling

The best place for handler to work is on edge of flight zone

Herd animals

All livestock are herd animals, and they become highly agitated or stressed when they are separated from their herd mates

The desire to be with the herd can be used to help move animals; trains animals can be used to lead other through handling facility

Groups of animals that have body contact remain calmer

Genetic Differences - behavior

Brahman and Brahman crossbred cattle are more excitable and harder to handle than English breeds

Angus cattle are more excitable than Herefords (easy going)

Holsteins move more slowly than Angus or Herefords

Some hybrid pigs are difficult to drive - extreme shelter-seeking behavior, flick together and refuse to move up a chute. Genetic defect in some pigs.

Stressors

Thermal

Feed deprivation

Transportation event

Social isolation/mixing

Restraint

Weaning

Sheep behavior

Different breeds react differently to handling

Flocking instinct in sheep

Leanness and behavior

Some animals that have been bred for extreme leanness are very excitable and difficult to handle when they are brought to a new place

Hybrid cross, breeding for long and lean

Long, slender, and smooth bodies with fine bones = more excitable

Pigs and cattle (limosin)

Handler dominance

Using animal's natural behavior to exert dominance and make animals demonstrate more submissive behavior = more efficient handling

Handling facility layout

Can have strong influence in type of previous experiences and can influence the ease with which the animal can be handled in the future

Facilities that utilize behavioral principles make handling easier in the present and future

Ex: Bud box - circle into chute, natural pattern

Should be: inform light, single-file line, solid sides on both chute and crowd pen, curved chutes

Crowd Pen design

Used to direct animals into a single-file or double-file chute

Must never be built on a ramp

Round is very efficient

Pigs and cattle 1/2 to 3/4 full

Avoid using crowd gate

Moving livestock through handling facility

Animals move forward in chute when a handler walks past them in the direction opposite the desired movement

Handlers should not put continuous pressure on am animal's flight zone.