Animal Bioscience

Asian Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (아세아태평양축산학회)
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Effects of one hour daily outdoor access on lying and sleeping postures, and immune traits of tethered cows

  • Huricha (Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University) ;
  • Kyoko Horaguchi (Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shinshu University) ;
  • Yuichiroh Shiiba (Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University) ;
  • Sachi Tanaka (Institute of Agriculture, Academic Assembly, Shinshu University) ;
  • Ken-ichi Takeda (Institute of Agriculture, Academic Assembly, Shinshu University)
  • Received : 2023.01.11
  • Accepted : 2023.02.23
  • Published : 2023.07.01
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Abstract

Objective: We investigated the effects of outdoor access for 1 h per day on the animal welfare (AW) of tethered cows, in terms of lying and sleeping postures, and immune function. Methods: A total of five dry cows were tethered all day indoors (tethering) for 30 days and then tethered indoors with 1 h daily outdoor access (ODA-1h) for 30 days. To analyze the effects of ODA-1h, we calculated the total duration and bout frequency per day, and bout duration of lying and sleeping postures during the last five days of each treatment period. We also analyzed the populations of T cells, B cells, and NK cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and determined the concanavalin A (Con A) -induced proliferation rate of T cells. Results: The mean total time per day of lying during the ODA-1h treatment was significantly shorter than that during the tethering treatment (p<0.001). The Con A-induced proliferation rate of T cells during the ODA-1h treatment was significantly higher than that during the tethering treatment (p = 0.007). The proportion of NK cells in PBMC during the ODA-1h treatment tended to be higher than that during the tethering treatment (p = 0.062). Conclusion: Although ODA-1h may decrease lying time, it increases the available space for tethered cows towards that typically found in grazing and free barn feeding systems. This increased available space promotes the expression of normal behaviors such as walking and social behaviors except lying and may also improve the immune function of tethered dry cows, thereby improving their overall welfare.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by the research program on development of innovative technology grants (No. JPJ007097) from the Project of the Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution (BRAIN) and the Japan Livestock Technology Association.

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