Common Behavior Problems in Livestock

Oral problems are mostly associated with..?

Dairy cattle, not spending >9 hrs/day grazing

Tongue rolling

Curls and uncurls tongue with a side-to-side motion

Often coupled with increased drinking behavior, stable lying, resting, and ruminating; eat less often and groom more frequently

Lower BCS higher yields of milk

Higher serum stress indicators

Bar chewing

Clamping the jaws around a bar

Moving head back and forth making chewing movement

Seen veal calves and adult cows

Associated with ketosis, mineral imbalance, salt deficiency, and stress

Object licking

Problem in friesian beef steers, dairy heifers, and cows

Problem in milk fed veal calves

Cattle normally explore by licking

How does object licking tend to present in intensively managed fattening bulls

44% lick, suck, bite ears

38% lock and suck the prepuce or the scrotum

1% locking and biting of tails

Urine drinking

Will drink their own, a herd mate’s, or any

52% are bull calves

Attributed to mineral deficiencies

Locomotor problems

Associated with stanchioned/tethered cattle

Swaying

Equivalent to weaving in the horse

Pacing

Making circles around an anchor point

Also a sign of neurological disease like BSE

Non-nutritive sucking

Inter-sucking

Self-sucking

Inter-sucking

Common in early weaned calves

Directed to “teat-like” objects

Most common in pail fed and group housed calves after eating

Need to nurse remains

Self-sucking

Adult cows suck their own teats or the teats of herd mates

25% of first calf heifers

4.3% in older cows

Usually in the afternoon

What production based issues does self-sucking cause

Financial loss from reduced milk production

Predisposes teats and udders to injury

Treatments for self-sucking

Modified bull nose ring with spines

Neck cradles for self suckers

Pica

Commonly associated with phosphorous deficiency

Improper calcium and phosphorus ratio

Can cause plastic or stone disease and choke

Aggression in bulls

Dairy bulls have the highest incidence

Kicking

Can be common in dairy cattle during milking

Beef cattle need this to protect themselves and offspring in the pasture

Hobbles and anti-kick bars

Used in dairy cattle to prevent them from kicking during milking

Buller steer syndrome

Steer that allows itself to be mounted and ridden by other steers

Occurs mostly in feedlots

Causes injuries and decreases BCS

Buller Steer syndrome stats

11% of early weaned male dairy calves

10-20% in Holstein steer feedlots

2.8% in beef steer feedlots

Nymphomania

Several cyst forms due to failure to ovulate

Symptoms include masculinization of head and neck

Bull like behavior (pawing, bellowing, mounting)

Silent heat

Failure to indicate signs of estrus even those ovaries are cycling

10-40% do not show signs

What 2 conditions significantly contribute to the development of most behavior problems in swine

Inability to explore, root, and manipulate

Food intake is controlled to prevent obesity

How does inability to explore, root, and manipulate the environment contribute to swine behavior problems

Strong evolutionary basis, instinctual

When not allowed, will redirect to abnormal behaviors

Normally spend 5-10 hrs doing this

How does control of food intake effect behavior in pigs?

Low dietary fiber leading to chronic hunger is associated with oral behavior problems

Belly-nosing

Rhythmic up-and-down head movement of one piglet rubbing another’s belly

Stress associated with early weaning

Shown by 50-80% of piglets on average of 15-25 min/day

Gradually decrease with age

Why is belly-nosing an issue for production

Spend less time eating and lying

Grow slower

Some progress to belly sucking

Recipient pigs can develop skin lesions

Sucking of body parts

Occurs on pendulous parts

Typically occurs in nursery and newly weaned pigs

Treatment by removing offending pig and treating injured

Oral, nasal, and facial behavior (ONF)

The use of the mouths and snouts to interact with their environment

Objects of interest depend on the environment (ground, fences, rocks, etc.)

ONF is most common in…

Pregnant sows in gestations stalls

Decreased by high fiber diets

Bar biting

Seen by 22% of pigs in confinement and 3% in pigs in loose housing

Performed ~3 hrs after feeding

Associated with normal nest-building behaviors

Sham chewing

Continuous chewing without food in the oral cavity

Related with higher cortisol levels

Chain chewing

Chewing on branches of vertically positioned chains

Considered to provide manipulative enrichment

Branched chains are the best option

Polydipsia

Drinking more water than needed, associated with boredom in confined sows

Cannibalism

Seen mostly on tails, also on ears, flank, and vulva

Seen 9% in normal tailed pigs

Seen 3% in pigs with docked tails

Associated with genetics, crowding, boredom, lack of minerals

Treatment of cannibalism

Offender and victim need to be removed, taste of blood is the reward

Piglet savaging

Sows and gilt that kill their piglets at birth

Higher incidence in gilts and affects 18% of litters

Mainly associated with farrowing crates

Aggression towards other pigs

Common with new introduction and can be inherited (heritably 0.31)

Led to the use of gestation stalls