scholarly journals Assessing cubicle dimensions for finishing bulls based on animal behaviour and cleanliness

2005 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Gygax ◽  
H. Schulze Westerath ◽  
J. Kuhlicke ◽  
B. Wechsler ◽  
C. Mayer

AbstractFinishing bulls need increasingly large cubicles throughout their growth, and optimal cubicle dimensions may differ from those used for dairy cows. The space requirements of finishing bulls was investigated by observing standing-up and lying-down behaviour, lying duration and number of lying bouts, as well as the cleanliness of cubicles and animals before and after increasing cubicle size at four different points in time. Lying area in the cubicles measured 120 × 70 cm at the start and 185 × 110 cm at the end of the finishing period (approx. at 160 and 550 kg, respectively). Twenty animals kept in four groups were observed at weights of approximately 220, 330, 380 and 500 kg before and after cubicle dimensions were increased. The proportion of standing-up events with more than one head lunge decreased with enlargement of the cubicles (P = 0·01). As cubicle size increased, bulls hit the partition rails less on standing up, except at 220 kg weight where the pattern was inverted (interaction: P = 0·001). Partitions were also hit less on lying down as cubicle size increased, except at 220 kg weight with an inverse pattern (interaction: P = 0·01). The number of exploratory head sweeps before lying down did not change with cubicle enlargement (P > 0·5). Bulls slipped more often with cubicle enlargement, except at 380 kg where the difference was inverted (interaction: P = 0·03). They never fell and never turned around in the cubicles. In general, both animals and cubicles were very clean. On average, lying duration decreased (P < 0·01) while the number of lying bouts tended to increase (P = 0·052) with enlargement of the cubicles but the absolute differences were small. Consequently at each point in time, the smaller cubicles still seemed to provide sufficient lying space for the bulls. If the impacts with the partitions were minor and did not represent a serious welfare concern, as suggested by qualitative observations, the cubicle dimensions used could be considered suitable for housing the type of finishing bulls used in this study.

Author(s):  
Tomáš Černý ◽  
Milan Večeřa ◽  
Daniel Falta ◽  
Gustav Chládek

The aim of this study was to evaluate the seasonal behavior and milk yield of dairy cows of Czech Fleckvieh cattle. The subject of the monitoring was one section (housed in one quarter of barn) with 103 free cubicle beds with an average of 95 lactating dairy cows of Czech Fleckvieh cattle. In the seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) temperature (°C), relative humidity (%) and temperature-humidity index (THI) were monitored. Furthermore, behavioral signs were also observed (a total of 4,940 observations): dairy cows were either lying down (3,432 observations) or standing up (1,508 observations). In the conditions that dairy cows were standing up in the cubicle, up to 585 observations were proved. If dairy cows were standing up outside of the cubicle (923 observations), they were either lying on the left side (1,924 observations) or right side (1,508). Significant seasonal influence was found out (p < 0.05) on the number of dairy cows standing up (a maximum of 410 observations in the spring, a minimum of 342 observations in the summer) and then the number of cows lying both on the left (a maximum of 519 observations in the autumn and a minimum of 444 observations in the spring) and on the right side (a maximum of 415 observations in the winter, a minimum of 320 observations in the autumn). The seasonal influence was no significant (p > 0.05) in the remaining behavioral signs. With regard to milk yield, a significant seasonal influence was proved. The highest milk yield was reached with dairy cows in spring (29.27 kg of milk) and the lowest in the autumn (24.58 kg of milk). No significant differences of milk yield were detected between behavioral signs (p > 0.05). The maximum difference of milk yield was found out up to 1.39 kg between dairy cows lying down on the left side (28.35 kg) and the dairy cows standing up in a cubicle (26.96 kg) in the winter but even this difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05).


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2660
Author(s):  
Lara Schmeling ◽  
Golnaz Elmamooz ◽  
Phan Thai Hoang ◽  
Anastasiia Kozar ◽  
Daniela Nicklas ◽  
...  

Monitoring systems assist farmers in monitoring the health of dairy cows by predicting behavioral patterns (e.g., lying) and their changes with machine learning models. However, the available systems were developed either for indoors or for pasture and fail to predict the behavior in other locations. Therefore, the goal of our study was to train and evaluate a model for the prediction of lying on a pasture and in the barn. On three farms, 7–11 dairy cows each were equipped with the prototype of the monitoring system containing an accelerometer, a magnetometer and a gyroscope. Video observations on the pasture and in the barn provided ground truth data. We used 34.5 h of datasets from pasture for training and 480.5 h from both locations for evaluating. In comparison, random forest, an orientation-independent feature set with 5 s windows without overlap, achieved the highest accuracy. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 95.6%, 80.5% and 87.4%, respectively. Accuracy on the pasture (93.2%) exceeded accuracy in the barn (81.4%). Ruminating while standing was the most confused with lying. Out of individual lying bouts, 95.6 and 93.4% were identified on the pasture and in the barn, respectively. Adding a model for standing up events and lying down events could improve the prediction of lying in the barn.


1955 ◽  
Vol 1955 ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. MacLusky

The herbage dry matter intake of grazing animals may be estimated by chemical marker and faecal analysis methods (Raymond, 1954) or by pasture sampling methods.Pasture sampling methods generally involve two main difficulties. The first is the low precision resulting from the variability of pasture yields. When intake is estimated from the difference between the yields of herbage on a given area sampled before and after the grazing period, the estimate bears the error variances of both the sample means. The second difficulty lies in ensuring that the estimated difference in yields is the true difference due to consumption. The samples must be cut below the level to which the animal can graze, and the amount of herbage growth during the grazing period must be estimated and allowed for. Growth can be estimated from the difference between the yield of herbage before grazing and the yield of protected herbage at the end of the grazing period.


1961 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Castle ◽  
J. N. Watson

SummaryTwo levels of steaming-up and two levels of concentrate feeding after calving were compared in a feeding trial extending over a complete lactation using sixteen autumn-calving Ayrshire cows in each of 2 years. On the high and low levels of steaming-up 3·3 and 1·6 cwt of concentrates respectively were fed per cow in the 5 weeks before calving. On the high and low levels of concentrate feeding after calving the concentrates were fed at rates of 4·1 and 2·2 lb per 10 lb of milk respectively from the third day after calving until spring grazing began. The total weight of concentrates fed after calving was 25·8 cwt per cow on the high treatment and 12·1 cwt on the low treatment. All the cows grazed good pasture in the autumn and the following spring and had a ration of 9–11 lb of hay and 50–90 lb of grass silage per day during the winter feeding period. During this period the estimated mean intakes of starch equivalent on the high and low concentrate treatments were 17 and 13 lb/day, which were equivalent to 122 and 103% of Woodman's standards respectively.Milk yield, milk quality, length of lactation and live weight were not affected by the difference between the steaming-up treatments, and no interaction between steaming-up and post-calving treatments was found. Average milk yields in the first 70 and 140 days after calving and in the complete lactations were all higher on the high post-calving concentrate treatment than on the low treatment, and the response per 1 lb additional starch equivalent fed was 1·05 lb milk. The fat content of the milk was similar on all treatments whereas the S.N.F. content increased from 8·64% on the low treatment to 8·82% on the high treatment, giving a response of 0·045% S.N.F. per 1 lb of additional starch equivalent.Larger losses in live weight occurred on the low treatment in the first 10 weeks after calving than on the high treatment, but in both groups the weights were almost identical after 45 weeks.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Hu ◽  
Ruiying Mu ◽  
Tuniyazi. Maimaiti ◽  
Jian Gao ◽  
Caijun Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is a well-recognized metabolic disease that has negative impact on the animal performance and health. SARA in cows is mainly caused by long-term high-concentration diet (HCD) feeding, however, some cows are so well adapted to the HCD that do not develop such condition while others are more susceptible. We speculated the difference may be associated with the rumen microbiota community. Here, we analyzed the rumen bacterial and fungal microbiota from SARA-resistance and SARA-prone cows before and after feeding with HCD for six weeks. Results: The 16S rRNA sequencing analysis showed that the rumen bacterial community in SARA-prone cows had lower bacterial diversity and higher relative abundance of unidentified_Spirochaetaceae and Anaeroplasma comparing to those of SARA-resistance cow. Moreover, the abundance of Stenotrophomonas were increased in SARA-positive compared to SARA-negative cows. In addition, the ITS1-IF sequencing analysis indicated that the abundance of Fusarium_oxysporum and Papiliotrema_laurentii were different in SARA-prone and SARA-resistance cows. Furthermore, feeding with HCD significantly increased the Sarocladium_zea, Meyerozyma_caribbica, and Fusarium_oxysporum, while decreaed Wallemia_sebi in rumen microbiota. These results suggested that the abundance of unidentified_Spirochaetaceae, Anaeroplasma, Fusarium_oxysporum, and Papiliotrema_laurentii in rumen maybe connected to the susceptibility of SARA in dairy cows. In addition, SARA provocation was increased the pathogenic Stenotrophomonas, Sarocladium_zea, Meyerozyma_caribbica, and Fusarium_oxysporum in rumen. Conclusions: This study suggested that manipulating rumen microbiota will serve as a novel approach for preventing the development of SARA in dairy cows in future studies.


Author(s):  
R.A. Herring

Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of ion-implanted Si is important for device fabrication. The defect structures of 2.5, 4.0, and 6.0 MeV As-implanted silicon irradiated to fluences of 2E14, 4E14, and 6E14, respectively, have been analyzed by electron diffraction both before and after RTA at 1100°C for 10 seconds. At such high fluences and energies the implanted As ions change the Si from crystalline to amorphous. Three distinct amorphous regions emerge due to the three implantation energies used (Fig. 1). The amorphous regions are separated from each other by crystalline Si (marked L1, L2, and L3 in Fig. 1) which contains a high concentration of small defect clusters. The small defect clusters were similar to what had been determined earlier as being amorphous zones since their contrast was principally of the structure-factor type that arises due to the difference in extinction distance between the matrix and damage regions.


Methodology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Höfler

A standardized index for effect intensity, the translocation relative to range (TRR), is discussed. TRR is defined as the difference between the expectations of an outcome under two conditions (the absolute increment) divided by the maximum possible amount for that difference. TRR measures the shift caused by a factor relative to the maximum possible magnitude of that shift. For binary outcomes, TRR simply equals the risk difference, also known as the inverse number needed to treat. TRR ranges from –1 to 1 but is – unlike a correlation coefficient – a measure for effect intensity, because it does not rely on variance parameters in a certain population as do effect size measures (e.g., correlations, Cohen’s d). However, the use of TRR is restricted on outcomes with fixed and meaningful endpoints given, for instance, for meaningful psychological questionnaires or Likert scales. The use of TRR vs. Cohen’s d is illustrated with three examples from Psychological Science 2006 (issues 5 through 8). It is argued that, whenever TRR applies, it should complement Cohen’s d to avoid the problems related to the latter. In any case, the absolute increment should complement d.


1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (04) ◽  
pp. 1332-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroh Yamazaki ◽  
Takeshi Motomiya ◽  
Minoru Sonoda ◽  
Noboru Miyagawa

SummaryChanges in platelets in 48 patients with uterine myoma before and after hysterectomy with and without ovariectomy were examined. Bilateral ovariectomy in 25 cases (ovariec-tomized group) and unilateral or non-ovariectomy in 23 cases (control group) were performed at the hysterectomy. Platelet count and an appearance rate of secondary aggregation decreased at one day after and increased at one week after the operation, similarly in both the ovariectomized and the control group. The appearance rate of secondary aggregation was reflected in an intensity of aggregation at 5 min after the addition of reagent to PRP. At one month after the operation, the appearance rate of secondary aggregation induced by 3 μM ADP showed a statistically significant decrease in comparison with the preoperation value (P <0.05) and the enhancement of 5-min aggregation was still observed in the control group, while ceased in the ovariectomized group. The difference between the two groups was significant (P < 0.05). There was almost no change in the speed and intensity of primary and secondary aggregation during the observation period. No significant differences in collagen-induced aggregation were noted between the two groups. The results suggest that ovarian hormones, mainly estrogen, facilitate platelet activation which is mediated by the so-called secondary aggregation.


Author(s):  
Niken Setyaningrum ◽  
Andri Setyorini ◽  
Fachruddin Tri Fitrianta

ABSTRACTBackground: Hypertension is one of the most common diseases, because this disease is suffered byboth men and women, as well as adults and young people. Treatment of hypertension does not onlyrely on medications from the doctor or regulate diet alone, but it is also important to make our bodyalways relaxed. Laughter can help to control blood pressure by reducing endocrine stress andcreating a relaxed condition to deal with relaxation.Objective: The general objective of the study was to determine the effect of laughter therapy ondecreasing elderly blood pressure in UPT Panti Wredha Budhi Dharma Yogyakarta.Methods: The design used in this study is a pre-experimental design study with one group pre-posttestresearch design where there is no control group (comparison). The population in this study wereelderly aged over> 60 years at 55 UPT Panti Wredha Budhi Dharma Yogyakarta. The method oftaking in this study uses total sampling. The sample in this study were 55 elderly. Data analysis wasused to determine the difference in blood pressure before and after laughing therapy with a ratio datascale that was using Pairs T-TestResult: There is an effect of laughing therapy on blood pressure in the elderly at UPT Panti WredhaBudhi Dharma Yogyakarta marked with a significant value of 0.000 (P <0.05)


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-361
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Grau-Pérez ◽  
J. Guillermo Milán

In Uruguay, Lacanian ideas arrived in the 1960s, into a context of Kleinian hegemony. Adopting a discursive approach, this study researched the initial reception of these ideas and its effects on clinical practices. We gathered a corpus of discursive data from clinical cases and theoretical-doctrinal articles (from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s). In order to examine the effects of Lacanian ideas, we analysed the difference in the way of interpreting the clinical material before and after Lacan's reception. The results of this research illuminate some epistemological problems of psychoanalysis, especially the relationship between theory and clinical practice.


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