Comportamento de vacas holandesas primíparas e multíparas criadas em sistema intensivo do tipo free-stall com ordenha robotizada

Abstract

The present study aimed to monitor behavioral aspects of primiparous and multiparous cows in a free-stall system with robotic milking. Thirty adult Holstein cows were used, 15 primiparous and 15 multiparous. The animals were evaluated during the day for eight hours. All behavioral manifestations of the cows were evaluated, with the activities distributed as follows: standing eating, standing ruminating, standing idle, lying ruminating, lying idle, interacting with other animals, drinking water and milking. To evaluate the behavior of cows during milking, the data used are generated automatically by the system management software, where the activities (number of milking/cow, milk production/cow) of the cows for two days for three months were considered ( January to March). The data were submitted to a normality and homogeneity test with application of logarithmic transformation when necessary (log [X+1]). Then they were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the characteristics that presented normal distribution in standing eating (PC), standing idle (PO), drinking water (BA) had the means compared by the SNK test, with 5% of meaningfulness. For the characteristics that did not adjust to normality (non-parametric), the test for comparing means used was the Wilcoxon test, for paired data, and the Mann-Whitney test, for unpaired data. There were significant differences between standing eating (PC), standing ruminating (PR), lying down ruminating (DR), lying idle (DO) and milking (ORD) behaviors of primiparous and multiparous Holstein cows between the morning and afternoon and for INT behavior in the morning for primiparous cows and DO in the afternoon with longer time for multiparous cows. There were no differences (p>0.05) between the behavior of primiparous and multiparous cows during the evaluation period. It is concluded that Holstein cows confined in a free-stall system have their food consumption behavior affected by the period of the day, indicating an effect of temperature on the manifestation of this behavior and primiparous and multiparous cows kept in an intensive free-stall system during lactation , express their behaviors, without differences between the categories.