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Laterality in Bovine Behavior in an Extensive Partially Suckled Herd and an Intensive Dairy Herd

Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES, United Kingdom

Corresponding author: C. J. C. Phillips; e-mail: cjcp2{at}cam.ac.uk.

Cattle exhibit behavioral laterality, but the consistency and correlation between behaviors are unknown. Behavioral laterality was recorded in two herds of contrasting management intensity. The first was a small, extensively managed herd in Brazil, with cows and calves on rangeland, except when removed for hand-milking in stalls. The second was a large, intensive British herd, with cows fed mostly indoors and calves removed for individual rearing soon after birth. In herd 1, the side of the body on which the following behaviors were performed was recorded: rumination (rumination), tail waving (tail), tongue protrusion during the initiation of a feeding bout (feeding), hind leg placement when lying (lying), and front leg initiating walking (walking). The distribution of left and right side dominance was normal for all behaviors, with positive correlations between walking and rumination, tail, and feeding, and between lying and rumination. In herd 2, rumination, feeding, and lying behaviors were similarly recorded, as well as parlor side-preference (parlor) and the side of a track chosen when returning to pasture (track). For all behaviors except track, the extent of left- and right-side dominance was not normally distributed, and more cows than expected showed strong laterality on the right or the left side. Parlor and track lateralities were correlated, indicating that cows that entered one side of the parlor also tended to choose the same side of the track. Strong laterality in the intensively managed herd therefore contrasted with that observed in the extensively managed herd and the reasons for such differences in laterality are uncertain.

Key Words: laterality • asymmetry • handedness • management