Beef Cattle Behaviour Flashcards

1
Q

Cattle vision

A

Pano = 330
Bino = 25-50

Slit shape pupils
Weak eye muscles = inability to focus quickly

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2
Q

What wavelengths can cattle distinguish? They have poor…

A

Long (yellow, orange, red)

Poor depth perception

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3
Q

What can the olfaction system detect? Important in what?

A

Pheromones
Important for reproduction and feed selection

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4
Q

How many tastebuds do cattle have? What tastes can they differentiate

A

30000
Differentiate acid, bitter, salt and sweet

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5
Q

Cattle hearing

A

Ears very sensitive
Can be calmed with soothing music or stressed by loud noises
Dairy breeds more sensitive to sound

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6
Q

Ways to calm cattle? Where do they prefer to allogroom

A

Calm them by playing music, scratching under the neck and behind the ears (difficult to access)
Prefer to allogroom in the neck area

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7
Q

Dominance hierarchies in beef

A

In steers, form soon after weaning
Stable / linear or triangular
High ranking cattle have fewer meals but spend more time eating

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8
Q

How are dominance hierarchies formed in beef

A

May only take a gesture or threat if one animal is clearly larger, healthier and stronger
Aggressive bull will turn perpendicular to challenger to display length and height
Then bunts or strikes challenger with head

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9
Q

Examples of stress in beef related to social behaviours

A

Isolation and crowding
Regrouping (breaks existing bonds)
Transportation and human handling
Wind, dust, heat, cold, nutrition affect stress

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10
Q

Temperament in cattle (bos indicus vs taurus)

A

Bos indicus generally more excitable breeds
Hair whorls on face = reactive cattle?

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11
Q

Patterns of leadership during grazing in cattle

A

High ranking (not necessarily most dominant; most experienced?) tend to lead, does not have control over direction
Medium ranks tend to follow
Low ranks = independent

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12
Q

How many individuals can cattle identify

A

50-70

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13
Q

How much time is spent grazing? What affects this? How much time is spent ruminating?

A

Grazing = 9h/day affected by temperature (high=graze at night)
Ruminating = three quarters of time spent grazing

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14
Q

How does grazing differ in open areas vs treed areas

A

Open = form large mobs, clumped, less distance between individuals

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15
Q

What affects the amount of time spent resting?

A

Environmental conditions, time spent ruminating and grazing, and breed
Avoid sources of noise and disturbance even if near habitual resting site

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16
Q

Where do bos taurus vs indicus prefer to rest

A

Taurus = shady areas
Indicus = sunny areas

17
Q

Behaviour of a bull as a cow enters estrus

A

Excited, follows her, licking, smelling her external genitalia and exhibiting flehmen
Paws the ground, snorts, rests chin then mounts and copulates for a few seconds

18
Q

Behaviour of the cow as she enters estrus?

A

Mount or be mounted by other cows, sniff males, mock fighting

19
Q

Level of sexual behaviour displayed is determined by…

A

Genetics, environmental factors, physiological factors, health, previous experience, stress
Dairy breed bulls more sexually active than beef breeds

20
Q

Bulls detect estrus how long before? Period of receptivity is…

A

2 days before estrus starts

1 to 18 hours, average 4.4

21
Q

Cow gestation, what does she do before parturition

A

9 months
Separates from herd (mother-offspring bond)

22
Q

What happens after parturition

A

Mother licks calves to stimulate breathing, circulation, urination and defecation, eats placenta
Calves are hiders, cow leaves calf when foraging

23
Q

When does suckling behaviour start after birth? What does the calf do?

A

2-5 hours after birth, mother is standing
Calf butts the mothers udder with its head, sucks

24
Q

Heifers with difficult births…

A

Take longer to stand, usually less experienced

25
Q

Calf ‘groups’

A

Calves may lay together while cows are grazing
Occurs in period before calves start grazing
‘Nurseries’
May be ‘guard’ cow left in charge, observations reported

26
Q

Heritability of maternal behaviour?
Length of contact for maternal bond to form

A

It is low, difficult to select for

Can be as brief as 5 mins

27
Q

What is used for cow calf identification

A

Vocalizations, vision, olfactory (cows groom and ‘label’ calf)

28
Q

Weaning in bos taurus vs indicus

A

Indicus = heifer calves at 8 months, bull calves at 11 months

Taurus = 6-7 months

29
Q

How to pre-condition a calf to decrease stress once weaned

A

Remove from mother immediately after weaning, handle, castrate, dehorn, accustom them to humans, they will be quieter/less stressed

30
Q

Abnormal cattle behaviours

A
  1. Mis mothering: mother does not recognize calf, no bond
  2. Buller-steer syndrome
  3. Oral abnormal behaviours (e.g. bar biting)
  4. Sick behaviours
31
Q

Flightzone in feedlot vs range cattle

A

Feedlot = 1.5m
Range (less handled) = 30m