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Disambiguating the "guilty look": salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour
Contributor(s):: Horowitz, A.
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A general reaction pattern across situations in prepubertal gilts
Contributor(s):: Thodberg, K., Jensen, K. H., Herskin, M. S.
56 prepubertal crossbred Landrace/Yorkshire gilts were subjected to a Food Competition Test, an Open Field Test, a Human Test and a Social Test. The undisturbed behaviour was video recorded in the home pen before the tests were performed. Factor analysis on open field data identified 5 factors,...
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Alternative housing for sows and litters. Part 3. Effects of piglet diet quality and sow-controlled housing on performance and behaviour
Contributor(s):: Pajor, E. A., Weary, D. M., Caceres, C., Fraser, D., Kramer, D. L.
We studied how "sow-controlled" housing (i.e. housing where sows can leave their piglets at will) affects the behaviour and performance of sows and litters when tested under near-commercial conditions and with two different levels of piglet diet quality. Sows and litters were housed in pens where...
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Alternative housing for sows and litters. Part 4. Effects of sow-controlled housing combined with a communal piglet area on pre- and post-weaning behaviour and performance
Contributor(s):: Weary, D. M., Pajor, E. A., Bonenfant, M., Fraser, D., Kramer, D. L.
Previous experimental work has shown modest and variable production and welfare benefits for the lactating sow and piglets when sows are allowed to separate themselves temporarily from their piglets, or when piglets have access to a communal creep area sufficiently attractive that they spend...
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An automatic system to record foraging behaviour in free-ranging ruminants
Contributor(s):: Rutter, S. M., Champion, R. A., Penning, P. D.
Precise measurements of grazing behaviour are required to develop an understanding of the factors affecting the foraging behaviour of free-ranging domestic ruminants. An automatic, microcomputer-based system for the digital recording of the jaw movements of free-ranging cattle and sheep is...
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Applied animal behaviour science. (Special issue: Suckling)
Contributor(s):: Lidfors, L., Svennersten-Sjaunja, K., Redbo, I.
This supplement contains articles that focus on behavioural and physiological aspects of suckling and/or sucking in ruminants. Abnormal sucking behaviour, particularly cross-sucking and non-nutritive sucking, in calves are presented; and the effects of milk flow and milk volume, the presence of a...
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Behaviour of calves at introduction to nurse cows after the colostrum period
| Contributor(s):: Vaarst, M., Jensen, M. B., Sandager, A. M.
In traditional housing systems for dairy herds, calves are very often placed in single boxes and fed milk from a bucket, which may lead to abnormal behaviour. In organic herds, for whom the aim is optimal animal welfare, there is interest in using suckling systems, where the calves have the...
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Behavioural, endocrine and immune consequences of mixing in weaned piglets
| Contributor(s):: Merlot, E., Meunier-Salaun, M. C., Prunier, A.
Mixing piglets at weaning increases plasma cortisol concentrations and agonistic behaviour. In contrast to what is observed in older pigs, studies failed to show any effect of social environment on other behavioural variables or on immune function. The lack of effect of mixing may not reflect an...
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Both energy content and bulk of food affect stereotypic behaviour, heart rate and feeding motivation of female pigs
| Contributor(s):: Robert, S., Rushen, J., Farmer, C.
The effect of high-fibre diets on feeding motivation and feeding-related stereotypic behaviour was examined in gilts. Forty gilts were fed on a concentrate diet (CONC) or high-fibre diets balanced for energy (WHEAT, wheat bran and maize cobs or OAT, oat hulls and oat) or with a lower energy...
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Cockatiels ( Nymphicus hollandicus ) reject very low levels of plant secondary compounds
| Contributor(s):: Matson, K. D., Millam, J. R., Klasing, K. C.
The rejection thresholds of caged cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus) were tested to determine their sensitivity to plant secondary compounds. Both alkaloids and tannins were tested using a two-bottle method in which purified water was always available in one bottle and an aqueous test solution...
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Colour preferences of domestic chicks in relation to food and water presentation
| Contributor(s):: Roper, T. J., Marples, N. M.
The colour preferences of chicks presented with artificially coloured food (chick starter crumbs) and water were investigated. In experiment 1, 96 pairs of chicks received red, green or black food in the form of a small pile of crumbs placed on the floor of the test cage, or red, green or black...
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Comparative behaviour of free-ranging blackbirds ( Turdus merula ) and silvereyes ( Zosterops lateralis ) with hexose sugars in artificial grapes
| Contributor(s):: Saxton, V. P., Hickling, G. J., Trought, M. C. T., Creasy, G. L.
In order to detect bird responses to sugar parameters of ripening grapes, artificial grapes containing controlled concentrations of hexose sugars were offered to free-range blackbirds (Turdus merula) and silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis). Time-lapse video was used to observe the two species of...
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Comparison of the behaviour of Awassi lambs in cafeteria feeding system with single diet feeding system
| Contributor(s):: Keskin, M., Sahin, A., Bicer, O., Gul, S.
This study was carried out to compare behavioural activities of Awassi lambs in cafeteria feeding system with conventional feeding (control) that animals fed concentrate. Sixteen, 3-month-old male lambs were housed individually for 42 days. The main effect was on the feeding systems, cafeteria...
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Cross-sucking and other oral behaviours in calves, and their relation to cow suckling and food provision
| Contributor(s):: Margerison, J. K., Preston, T. R., Berry, N., Phillips, C. J. C.
Abnormal oral behaviour in calves is believed to develop when there is a lack of opportunity to suckle, but it is unclear whether they need access to their mother or whether a multiple suckling system will suffice to prevent this behaviour from developing. Therefore, in an initial experiment, the...
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Cross-suckling and nursing synchronisation in group housed lactating sows
| Contributor(s):: Maletinska, J., Spinka, M.
Group housing systems for lactating sows with piglets enable the animals to behave more naturally than traditional restrictive systems. However, piglets may occasionally suckle from other sows than their mother. The influence of litter size, age of the litter, mother parity, piglet gender and, in...
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Dairy cows trade-off feed quality with proximity to a dominant individual in Y-maze choice tests
| Contributor(s):: Rioja-Lang, F. C., Roberts, D. J., Healy, S. D., Lawrence, A. B., Haskell, M. J.
In this experiment choice tests were used as a tool to determine how dairy cows perceive their feeding environment with specific emphasis on understanding the challenges that low ranking animals face when forced to feed in the presence of socially dominant cows. It was hypothesised that cows...
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Development of stereotypic behaviour in sows fed a starch diet or a non-starch polysaccharide diet during gestation and lactation over two parities
| Contributor(s):: Peet-Schwering, C. M. C. van der, Spoolder, H. A. M., Kemp, B., Binnendijk, G. P., Hartog, L. A. den, Verstegen, M. W. A.
The effect of feeding sows a starch diet or a diet with a high level of fermentable non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) during gestation, lactation or both gestation and lactation over the first two parities on the development of stereotypic behaviour was studied in sows housed in groups during...
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Diet preference for grass and legumes in free-ranging domestic sheep and cattle: current theory and future application
| Contributor(s):: Rutter, S. M.
This paper reviews the current theory and potential practical applications of research on the diet preference for grass and legumes in grazing domestic sheep and cattle. Although much of this work has focussed on grass and clover as a model system, it has wider theoretical implications and...
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Dietary preference of dairy heifers grazing ryegrass and white clover, with and without an anti-bloat treatment
| Contributor(s):: Rutter, S. M., Orr, R. J., Yarrow, N. H., Champion, R. A.
The effect of an antibloat treatment on the dietary preference of nonpregnant Holstein x Friesian heifers for ryegrass and white clover was studied. Eight groups of two heifers grazed 0.51 ha plots containing adjacent monocultures of grass alongside clover with either 25 or 75% clover (by ground...
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Discriminating among novel foods: effects of energy provision on preferences of lambs for poor-quality foods
| Contributor(s):: Villalba, J. J., Provenza, F. D.
A study was conducted to better understand how lambs discriminate among novel foods based on flavour and post-ingestive effects. The manner in which temporal sequence of food ingestion and post-ingestive feedback affected preference when lambs were fed flavoured wheat straw (a poorly nutritious...
