Post-feeding behaviors of newborn and peak lactation dairy cows

This study compared the behavioral characteristics of newborn and peak lactation dairy cows in the barn after feeding. The study used 10 newborn and 10 peak lactation Holstein cows. Behavior was directly observed for 10 consecutive days between 11:00-13:00 at five-minute intervals using the time sampling method. After the morning feeding, eating, lying down, locomotion, lying and standing rumination, friendly interaction, and abnormal stereotypic behavior of newborn and peak dairy cattle were significantly different (P≤0.05). Cows in the peak period (33.7%) showed more feeding behavior than cows in the neonatal period (12.4%) (P=0.0001). Lying behavior was 21.9% in the neonatal group and 15.7% in the peak group (P=0.0561). Locomotion behavior was 12.3% in the neonatal group and 17.1% in the peak group (P=0.0028). Lying rumination was 19.8% in the newborn group and 8.7% in the peak group (P=0.0022). Standing rumination was significantly different in the neonate (8.2%) and peak (1.2%) groups (P=0.0008). In conclusion, it was observed that the transition and peak periods in dairy cattle caused differences in the behavioral characteristics of the animals. It can be said that the behavioral differences between the two groups, in which different physiological and metabolic reactions occur, may be due to the differences in the roughage/concentrate ratio in the daily rations and the visits to the feeders and activities due to the continuation of the feeding behavior.