The vulnerable transition cow: Coping with illness

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This research will provide new insights into the behavioural changes in animals associated with the onset of disease. The dairy cow provides an excellent system for studying these changes because many cows become ill, and much of this illness is concentrated in a period of a few weeks around the time of calving. These 'sickness behaviours' have been studied in humans and laboratory animals, but very little work has been done on farm animals. Previous work in my laboratory has provided some of the first data showing that certain behaviours, such as reduced feeding and social interactions, can identify cows at risk for disease after calving. The objective of the proposed research program is to develop a more fundamental understanding of the relationship between behaviour and health in dairy cows. Specifically, I propose a series of experiments designed to 1) identifying the range of sickness behaviours performed by dairy cows, discriminating between those behaviours that provide both short- and long-term benefit to the cow, and 2) identifying aspects of a cow's social environment, including her particular coping strategy to a stressful environment, that might increase her susceptibility to disease. The appropriate use and treatment of animals are among the most important challenges facing animal agriculture today, and the high rate of illness at the time of calving is also of great concern.