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Human and animal behaviour in dairy buffalo at milking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

F Saltalamacchia ,
C Tripaldi ,
A Castellano ,
F Napolitano ,
M Musto  and
G De Rosa
F Saltalamacchia
Affiliation:
Istituto sperimentale per la Zootecnia, Via Salaria 31, 00016 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
C Tripaldi
Affiliation:
Istituto sperimentale per la Zootecnia, Via Salaria 31, 00016 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
A Castellano
Affiliation:
Istituto sperimentale per la Zootecnia, Via Salaria 31, 00016 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
F Napolitano
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni animali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Via dell'Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
M Musto
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni animali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Via dell'Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
G De Rosa*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta, dell'Ambiente e delle Produzioni animali, Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II’, Via Università 133, 80055 Portici, Napoli, Italy
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
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Abstract

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This study aims to investigate the relationship between human behaviour, buffalo behaviour and prevalence of oxytocin injection at milking. The research was carried out on 17 buffalo farms. On each farm the stockperson's behaviour toward the buffaloes and the buffaloes' behaviour were observed during one afternoon's milking. Stockperson's behaviour was observed from collection of the animals in the waiting area to exit from the milking parlour. The following variables were recorded: number of positive, neutral and negative interactions. The number of steps and kicks were recorded from the entrance to the milking parlour to the removal of cups whenever the stockperson was less than 0.5 m from the animal. The prevalence of oxytocin injection at milking was recorded on two separate occasions with a 5-month interval to obtain a measure of the long-term consistency of this variable. Significant correlations were found between stepping and kicking, stepping and prevalence of oxytocin injection, kicking and prevalence of oxytocin injection and stockperson positive interactions and kicking. These results indicate that stockperson behaviour is related to buffalo behaviour at milking and the latter to the use of oxytocin injections. In addition, prevalence of oxytocin injection proved to be highly reliable when re-tested five months later.

Keywords

animal welfaredairy buffalohuman-animal relationshiplong-term consistencymilkingoxytocin
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 16 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level , May 2007 , pp. 139 - 142
Copyright
© 2007 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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