Enhancing movement opportunity to support behavioral needs for movement-restricted cattle through different conditions of access to exercise

Abstract

Abstract Intensification in animal production has led to increased indoor confinement for animals, limiting opportunities to meet some behavioral needs such as exploration and locomotion. This poses a crucial question as to how these restrictions can be alleviated by providing additional space designed with that specific purpose in mind. Working with cows housed in tie-stalls, our study aimed to: (1) quantify how providing an exercise area outside the normal housing environment affects locomotor behavior; (2) evaluate how exercise access conditions can contribute to increase locomotor benefits for animals; (3) investigate cows’ time budgets during exercise access. Six trials involving different exercise access conditions (indoor vs. outdoor, outing duration, exercise area size, type of ground surface) enrolled 141 tie-stall-housed lactating Holsteins. A meta-analysis compared daily steps for exercise vs. non-exercise treatments, while generalized linear mixed models determined exercise conditions’ impact on daily steps. Providing 1-hour exercise access increased daily steps by 53% (304 more steps), influenced by type of access (167 more steps outdoor vs. indoor), larger space (146 more steps) and longer outings (84 more steps). Cows spent 50–85% of exercise time idle, exploring (5–20%) and socializing (5%). Our results highlight the significant impact of 1 h daily exercise on tied cattle.

Keywords

• Behavioral needs
• Locomotor behavior
• Movement opportunity
• Steps