PSIX-12 Meta-analysis of exercise programs implemented in the research and commercial environments that were designed to enhance Bos indicus influence cattle welfare upon entry to a feedlot.

Abstract

To quantify the impact of two exercise programs against a control, two companion projects were conducted simultaneously across 30 days: one in a research setting (n = 210 weanling calves; 12 pens @ 4 pens/trt) and one in a commercial setting (n = 688 yearling calves; 6 pens @ 2 pens/trt). Calves were sorted by sex and placed into pens; treatments were applied to the entire pen 3x/wk for 4 wk and behavioral observations were conducted weekly on days that cattle were not engaged in their assigned exercise program. Pens were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: 1) programmatic exercise (PRO; cattle moved to drive alley and encouraged to maintain movement for 20 min), 2) free exercise (FREE; cattle moved to drive alley, and allowed free movement without access to the pen for 60 min) or 3) no exercise (CON). Cattle behavior and productivity were measured in both studies. General Linear Mixed models evaluated the impact of treatment, study, and week on behavior, including pen within treatment and week within pen x treatment x study interaction as random effects. No treatment x study interactions were observed for ADG (P=0.11) or F:G (P=0.11). Study x week interactions (P<0.01) were observed for lying, standing, walking, drinking, and ruminating whilst a tendency (P<0.01) was observed for social behaviors. A larger proportion of calves ate simultaneously in the research setting compared to the commercial setting (P<0.01). Differences between the two studies may be attributed to age (weanling vs. yearling in the research and commercial settings, respectively), diet, or stocking density (34.9 vs. 30.1 cm feedbunk space/animal for the research and commercial settings, respectively). Both research and commercial experiments demonstrate that these exercise treatments did not alter cattle productivity or behavior.