Research from a study in New Zealand suggests that dairy cows that are “calm” and “investigative” produce more milk and spend longer grazing than their herd counterparts.
A study of 87 cows conducted in New Zealand over a 16-day period found that the investigative, calm or “curious” dairy cows produced a higher milk yield than cows with other personality traits.
The objective of the study was to determine whether personality traits, measured using a series of short standardized behavioral tests, were associated with daily behaviour patterns such as grazing and lying and whether these can impact on the milk production of dairy cattle managed on pasture.
Five tests were conducted over consecutive days with one test per day measuring their responses to a novel object, restraint, novel human, avoidance distance, and response to milking tests. The research concluded there were three personality types for the dairy cows which they labelled “fearful of humans”, “calm and investigative” and “reactive during milking.”
It found that cows that were most calm or investigative spent more time grazing (by about 1 h) without a trade-off in reduction in lying time. Cows that were most (versus least) “calm and investigative” spent about 70 mins more a day grazing and produced about 5.5 kg per day more milk. The report said that the longer grazing time “likely” contributed to their greater milk production.
Cows that were more fearful of humans by leaving a high avoidance distance and being reactive toward humans had reduced lying time. Cows that were most reactive to milking tended to have a lower milk yield of around 1.8 kg/d less.
The report concluded: “ These results support the growing body of literature demonstrating an association between personality traits and daily behavior and productivity of cattle.”
It added: “These short behavior tests could be used on commercial farms to characterize individual animals and aid in tailoring farm management to meet individual cow needs.”
The study just been published in the Journal of Dairy Science, was conducted at the Lincoln University Research Dairy Farm in Lincoln, New Zealand from November 11 to 30, 2019.
The report was published in the Journal of Dairy Science.