BEHAVIOR AT CALVING AND CHOICE OF CALVING PLACE IN CATTLE KEPT IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

Isolation seeking behaviour, choice of calving place, characteristics of the chosen place, pre-partum behaviour and social interactions duri ng calving were recorded in three studies on free-ranging cattle. The first study was done on beef cattle kept in an open grazing area with 30 ha for multiparous cows (n = 380) and 7 ha for primiparous cows (n = 70). The second study was done on dairy Finn cattle kept in a 20 ha forest area (n = 12). The third study was done on dairy cattle kept in a 170 m2 uninsulated loose housing with deep litter (n = 98). In stud y one, most cows calved in the area where shelters, water, minerals an d hay were provided. During calving the cows had significantly fewer a dult neighbours than did pregnant cows, but there were no significant differences in the number of calves in the vicinity. In study two, six of the seven cows during the first year and three of the seven cows d uring the second year isolated themselves before calving. The cows cal ved on dry and high altitude places with tree cover and branches overh ead, or in the shelter. There were no significant changes in lying, st anding, walking, feeding and ruminating during 5 days pre-partum. Only during the actual day of calving did cows increase nearest neighbour distance substantially. There were significant differences between pri miparous and multiparous cows in walking and distance to nearest neigh bour during 1 and 4 days prepartum and in ruminating during 2 and 3 da ys pre-partum. The total amount for the 5 days pre-partum of ruminatin g, walking and distance to nearest neighbour increased significantly f rom the first to the second year. In study three, the pre-parturient c ows mainly sniffed and licked alien calves, while other cows sniffed t he calving cow. After birth the mother mainly directed licking and sni ffing towards her own calf. The other cows in the group directed relat ively much sniffing and some pushing, butting and licking towards the newborn calf. Teat-seeking was directed towards both the mother and ot her cows. Only four of 11 observed calves suckled successfully within 3 h after birth. The conclusion from this study is that there are larg e individual differences in calving behaviour and that parturient cows seem able to cope with different environmental and social problems at calving.