Authors
Alison L Russell, Laura V Randall, Jasmeet Kaler, Nikki Eyre, Jake Thompson, Martin J Green
Publication date
2024/5/1
Journal
Applied Animal Behaviour Science
Volume
274
Pages
106241
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
There is currently a focus on the importance of providing positive experiences to farm animals, which can be facilitated through the provision of environmental enrichment. Brushes are an established enrichment resource for dairy cows, however, enrichment opportunities beyond this appear to be limited. Resources which animals habituate to rapidly may be economically unviable and provide limited welfare benefits. This study aimed to assess the utility of simple point source enrichment for housed dairy cows, to evaluate how cows habituate to enrichment over time and whether cows show a preference for different enrichments. A preliminary experiment provided two groups of dairy cows (n=71) with continuous access to a novel object in the home pen for three weeks. In a further experiment, two groups of cows (n=75) were provided with the same novel object alongside continuous access to an outdoor concrete …
Scholar articles
AL Russell, LV Randall, J Kaler, N Eyre, J Thompson… - Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2024