EFFECT OF DAILY EXERCISE ON THE GETTING UP AND LYING DOWN BEHAVIOR OFTIED DAIRY-COWS

The effect of daily exercise on tied dairy cows was studied in 65 firs t and second calvers of the Swedish Red and White dual-purpose breed i n a 4 year experiment. Half the group walked outdoors for 2-3 km day(- 1) from May to October and 400-800 m day(-1) from November to April. T he rest of the cows were constantly tied. In the third and fourth year s of the experiment and when the cows were in the tenth week of their third to fifth lactation, each cow was documented for movements of get ting up and lying down during 24 h by an infra-red sensitive camera an d a time-lapse video recorder. In the third year, 19 non-exercised (NE ) cows and 18 exercised (E) cows were filmed, and in the fourth year t en ME cows and 13 E cows. When lying down, the time spent from the pos ition when the cow started to move her head in a pendulum movement clo se to the ground until she had one knee on the floor was recorded (pha se 1), and subsequently from this position until she was lying down (p hase 2). During both years the NE cows had a significantly longer phas e 1 than the E cows, which was associated with a significantly higher number of interrupted pendulum movements. In year 3, the median time f or the total act of lying down was 70 s for NE cows and 36 s for E cow s, in year 4 it was 46 s and 30 s, respectively. Median time for getti ng up was 8 s and 7 s for NE and E cows respectively, in both years. T he number of getting-ups/lying-downs in 24 h did not differ significan tly between the groups, nor did the time needed for getting up. On ave rage, the cows of both groups had a side for lying which they signific antly preferred. For the individual cow it could be either the left or the right side. We believe that the differences in time needed for th e lying down movement and number of interrupted pendulum movements per lying down were largely due to differences in the condition of the li mb joints, tendons and ligaments.