Chilled out cows might make more milk

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-31 09:22

New Zealand

PHOTO: Ryan Song/Unsplash

There’s growing evidence that a farm animal’s personality is linked to its productivity, but personality tests for dairy cattle are time-consuming and impractical for farmers. NZ researchers used shorter behavioural tests on 87 dairy cattle, and then looked whether they were linked to other behaviours like grazing and producing milk. Cows that were the most fearful of humans spent less time lying down, something that is critical for a cow's welfare so she can rest and ruminate. Calmer and more curious cows grazed for longer, which probably contributed to producing more milk. Based on their findings, the researchers also suggest which personality tests would be the most practical so farmers can make tailored plans for managing individual cows.

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Research Elsevier, Web page

Journal/
conference: Journal of Dairy Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: AgResearch, Lincoln University, DairyNZ

Funder: This study was co-funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment Strategic Science Investment Fund (SSIF; AgResearch Contract # C10X1702) and New Zealand Dairy Farmers through DairyNZ, Inc. (Hamilton, New Zealand; Contract 2020-1598). The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest.

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