Evaluating the temporal and situational consistency of personality traits in adult dairy cattle.

ABSTRACT: Recent research suggests that personality, defined as consistent individual behavioral variation, in farm animals could be an important factor when considering their health, welfare, and productivity. However, behavioral tests are often performed individually and they might not reflect the behavioral differences manifested in every-day social environments. Furthermore, the contextual and longer-term temporal stability of personality traits have rarely been investigated in adult dairy cattle. In this study, we tested three groups of lactating Holstein cows (40 cows) using an individual arena test and a novel object test in groups to measure the contextual stability of behavior. Among the recorded individual test parameters, we used seven in the final analysis, which were determined by a sys

SUBMITTER: Foris B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6166944 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature