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Aufsatz
Identification and development of measures suitable as potential breeding traits regarding dairy cows´ reactivity towards humans
(Elsevier B.V., 2016-09-19)
Behavioural indicators of the human-animal relationship (HAR) are predominantly used in animal welfare science. However, the reactivity of dairy cows – as part of the HAR - is also of interest in the context of dairy breeding, due to its estimated moderate heritability. The avoidance distance (AD) towards an unfamiliar experimenter in a standardized test is regarded an established behavioural indicator of the HAR, but for breeding purposes more feasible measures would be advantageous.
The aim of the present pilot ...
Aufsatz
Behavioural response of dairy cows with and without calf-contact to hair of own and alien calves presented in the milking parlour
(Elsevier B.V., 2016-05-06)
In systems where dairy cows are milked and additionally suckle their calves during the first months of lactation, problems with alveolar milk ejection during machine-milking occur. As olfaction is a key sense for kin recognition and acceptance at the udder, olfactory stimulation might alleviate this challenge. In this pilot study, we investigated whether cows behaviourally respond to calf hair presented in the parlour, and whether this is affected by suckling the own calf or not. Discrimination between hair of the ...