BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO SPATIAL NOVELTY IN DAIRY COWS
Thirty-two lactating Holstein cows were used in a study of excitability and agonistic behavior of dairy cattle. When cattle were moved from a familiar stall to an unfamiliar place, heart rate immediately increased on average from 83.2 to 107.8 (P < 0.01). The total distance of head movement in a novel environment varied considerably. The animal with the greatest head movement had a distance 6.6 times larger than the cow with the least head movement. Significant deviation from the mean values of agonistic interactions were found for 28 cows: of these 10 showed tendencies for physical attacks (P < 0.05), 5 for threats (P < 0.05), 6 for displacement of physical attacks (P < 0.05), and 7 showed significant tendencies for avoidance when threatened (P < 0.05). Both the instigator and victim cows that showed a higher proportion of the psychological form of agonistic behavior also tended to show a larger amount of head movement with less variation, lower increase in heart rate, and less change in norepinephrine concentration due to transfer. The results indicate that analyses of head movement patterns may be used for an assessment of excitability of cows. Key words: Cow, behavior, spatial novelty, head movement, excitability, temperament