Stay calm at this time.

MARIANA MAGALHÃES CAMPOS, MARIA GUILHERMINA PEDROZA e ALINE CRISTINA SANT’ANNA
Nov 14, 2023
7 min read

Researchers have pointed out that rational management conveys well-being and is associated with lower enteric methane emissions and greater productivity in dairy cows.

Society's concern about the welfare and how farm animals are raised and treated is growing. Well-being is intrinsic to the individual; it's something we can't give them, but we can offer resources to enhance this characteristic in the animal. Defined by experts as "the state of an organism in its attempts to adjust to its environment," in practice, we can think of animal welfare more simply, in terms of the animal's quality of life and the maintenance of its internal balance and its relationship with the environment in which it lives.

Even more important than theory is the commitment of producers, technicians and employees to providing conditions associated with animal welfare, which include high-quality food, hygiene, facilities and veterinary care, as well as rational management and a gentle approach by humans.

Less stress

Animal welfare is also associated with temperament, which refers to individual behavioral differences—the way each animal reacts to handling routines and the production environment. It's possible to observe tendencies for some individuals to be more or less agitated, aggressive, active, curious, fearful, tame, docile, or reactive. Generally, cattle with higher levels of reactivity face welfare problems and are more susceptible to stress, a condition that can harm their health and productivity.

Furthermore, working with more reactive animals implies increased costs associated with: (1) the need for more well-trained handlers; (2) employee safety risks; (3) time spent handling animals; (4) the need for optimized infrastructure that requires more frequent maintenance; (5) more heterogeneous animal batches; (6) loss of milk production and quality due to stress during milking; (7) reduced efficiency in heat detection in systems where artificial insemination is used. In other words, undesirable temperaments cause harm to animal and human welfare, in addition to economic losses.

It is possible to reduce animal reactivity, since temperament has a hereditary component, as explored in bovine genetic improvement programs. Environmental conditions also influence cow behavior, so rational management must be adopted. And, although genetics influence an animal's temperament, it is possible to shape the phenotype by maintaining stress-free environments (especially during milking). Thus, selecting calmer cows and adopting good practices in the activity routine promote the well-being of both cows and workers.

Good practices require quality interactions between people and animals, with certain levels of positive contact to reduce fear reactions in cattle and facilitate human action. Based on this premise, training heifers for their first milking is becoming increasingly common, a technique well suited to the Brazilian dairy herd, which is composed of approximately 80% crossbred animals, primarily the Girolando breed . Animals with some degree of Zebu blood are better adapted to tropical conditions—climate, diet, and the presence of parasites—in addition to achieving better production rates compared to animals of European breeds raised in Brazil. However, Zebu cattle have a more reactive temperament, which can be affected by genetics, sex, breeding system, type of management, and previous experience.

Calmer, more milk

In an experiment conducted at the Embrapa Dairy Cattle experimental unit (Coronel Pacheco/MG), in partnership with the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), 31 F1 Holstein x Gir heifers were trained at the beginning of the final third of gestation, 30 days before the expected calving date [1]. The training consisted of exposing the animals to increasing sensory stimuli, mainly auditory and tactile, related to the milking environment. The training protocol is described in Table 1.

Good practices should guide all stages of animal husbandry, from birth to adulthood. In the case of dairy cows, which have frequent contact with humans, rational or gentle handling begins in the pre-calving phase and continues throughout the lactation period, with positive actions such as: (1) leading them to the milking area calmly, without hitting, running, or shouting; (2) encouraging walking by calling them by name, clapping, and whistling; (3) avoiding overcrowding in the waiting room; (4) guiding them to the milking containment area by calling them by name, clapping, signaling with gentle gestures, whistling, and lightly touching the rump; (5) not forcing entry into the milking parlor, respecting the naturally established order; (6) assisting with positioning and activating the containment structure; (7) when approaching or touching a cow, call her by name; (8) touching her leg or udder before touching her teats; (9) After milking, release the animals calmly.

The reactive temperament of dairy cows is also associated with productivity. In the same study [1], the animals' behavior was assessed during lactation by observing hind limb movement, recording the number of steps and kicks at two points during milking: during teat cleaning/black-bottom cup testing and during teat cup placement. Teat cup knockovers and ruminations were also recorded during milking. Cows that took more steps, kicked more, or dropped their teat cups more often were considered more reactive, while those that remained less agitated and/or ruminated more often were considered calmer.

According to the study's results, cows that kicked less and ruminated more during milking produced more milk. Therefore, kicking during milking indicates reactivity, while rumination indicates relaxation, suggesting that cows that ruminate more have better welfare indices in the production environment.

COWS THAT KICKED LESS AND RUMINATED MORE DURING MILKING PRODUCED MORE MILK

Calmer, less methane

The environmental impacts associated with livestock farming, particularly emissions of methane (CH4), one of the main greenhouse gases (GHG), are also generating growing public interest. CH4 emissions from cattle gained even more attention on social media in late 2021, when world powers gathered at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. At the meeting, representatives from more than 100 countries, including Brazil, committed to reducing methane emissions by up to 30% by 2030. Much of this reduction will involve developing more sustainable livestock farming, guided by measures aimed at mitigating enteric methane emitted by the country's herd, one of the largest in the world, with approximately 224.6 million head in 2021, according to IBGE data.

To investigate this issue, another study was conducted by the same researchers [2], which demonstrated that the temperament of 31 F1 Holstein x Gyr dairy cows, this time in lactation, was also related to CH4 emissions. The cows' temperament was assessed in the milking parlor and in the handling pen, where the cows were led to the holding pen, while the time it took for each animal to enter the pen was recorded. Cows that took longer to enter the pen demonstrated fear; those that entered quickly were considered more reactive. Inside the pen, the cows' agitation level was assessed by body, ear, and head movements; quiet or audible breathing; and standing still or attempting to jump. Each animal received a score, with higher scores indicating greater reactivity. Next, the animals' exit speed from the holding pen was recorded, with faster animals being considered more reactive.

Enteric methane emissions were measured in respirometric chambers (Photos 5A and 5B), where the cows remained for 48 hours (they only left to be milked). By measuring the amount of gases absorbed and released by each animal, it was possible to estimate daily methane emissions (Figure 1).

As part of the metabolic parameter research, digestibility tests were performed, with samples of feed (provided and leftovers), urine, and feces collected to estimate the amount of energy consumed, lost (in the form of feces, urine, methane, and heat production), and retained (or liquid) for milk production (Figure 2). Each cow's daily production was recorded, and the amount of methane emitted per liter of milk produced was calculated.

According to the results, the cows that were most agitated during milking, those that dropped the teat cups more often, emitted 36.77% more enteric methane per liter of milk and allocated 25.24% less net energy to lactation (energy consumed less energy spent on animal maintenance, in this case; Graph 1).

THE TEMPERAMENT OF DAIRY COWS IS ASSOCIATED WITH CH4 EMISSIONS

The opposite was observed in calmer cows, which ruminated more during milking: they emitted 37.10% less enteric methane per liter of milk and allocated 57.93% more net energy to milk production. Therefore, they were more productive (Graph 2).

The temperament of the cows in the handling pen also influenced methane emissions: the cows that left the holding trunk more quickly, the most reactive, tended to emit 14.30% more enteric methane per liter of milk, as well as those that entered the trunk more quickly (more reactive) lost 13.29% more gross energy in the form of enteric methane (Graph 3).

The researchers ultimately concluded that the movement and rumination of cows in the milking parlor, as well as tests carried out in the handling pen, can be useful in predicting animals more prone to high enteric methane emissions per liter of milk and low productivity.

The desirable temperament of dairy cattle, the high standard of welfare of the animals and people involved in the system, as well as the reduction of methane gas emissions in the activity depend on improvements in animal management.

As ESG is being incorporated into the dairy chain, don't hold back on your efforts to establish strategies that positively transform the production model. However, when interacting with and guiding the animals through their routine, stay calm, preserve their unique well-being, increase production efficiency, and, of course, ensure the sustainability of the business.

REFERENCES

[1] PEDROZA, MGM, CAMPOS, MM, PEREIRA, LGR, MACHADO, FS, TOMICH, TR, COSTA, MJRP, SANT ANNA, AC Consistency of temperament traits and their relationships with milk yield in lactating primiparous F1 Holstein - Gyr cows. In: Applied Animal Behavior Science, vol. 222, 104881, 2020.*

[2] PEDROZA, MGM, CAMPOS, MM, SACRAMENTO, JP, PEREIRA, LGR, MACHADO, FS, TOMICH, TR, COSTA, MJRP, SANT´ANNA, AC Are dairy cows with a more reactive temperament less efficient in energy metabolism and do they produce more enteric methane? In: Animal, vol. 15, no. 6, p. 100224, 2021.*

*The studies are part of the doctoral thesis of Maria Guilhermina Pedroza, a student of the Postgraduate Program in Biodiversity and Nature Conservation at UFJF, under the supervision of researcher Dr. Mariana Campos (Embrapa) and professor Dr. Aline Cristina Sant'Anna (UFJF).

MARIANA MAGALHÃES CAMPOS

Researcher at Embrapa Dairy Cattle.