Lying behaviour and individual water intake of suckler cows during out-wintering in Canada

Abstract

Traditionally during Canadian winter, suckler cows are kept outside in a specific pen with windbreakers. It has no access to a shelter or building. The objective of this study was to measure the impact of climate conditions on lying behaviour and water intake of suckler cows. Throughout two wintering periods, individual water intake and lying behaviour of two groups of suckler cows were analysed according to partly extreme temperatures down to –40 °C. The results of the two indicators illustrated that suckler cows showed climate induced behavioural changes, whereas water intake was not influenced by increasing cold.