Study on Resting Behavior in Six Months of Age Calves from Romanian Black and White Breed during Summer Season

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to measure the main aspects that characterize the resting behavior of six months old calves during the summer season. During the experiments the following resting behavior aspects were determined: number of resting periods, the length of resting periods. Results showed that in the summer season the total length of laying down periods was 77.2 minutes in the morning, 129.4 minutes in the afternoon and 347.5 minutes during the night. In the summer season calves stood down in 1.8 periods during the morning, 3.8 periods during the afternoon and 3.5 periods during the night. There were significant differences between morning and afternoon (p<0.01), between morning and night (p<0.001) and between afternoon and night (p<0.001) for total time spent lying down by calves. In the summer season the total time spent resting (sleep and rest laying down) was 8.8 minutes in the morning, 39.1 minutes in the afternoon and 120.7 minutes during the night. There were very significant differences between morning and afternoon (p<0.001), between morning and night (p<0.001) and between afternoon and night (p<0.001) for total time spent resting by calves during the summer season.

Keywords

• calves
• resting behavior
• romanian black and white breed