Association between aggressive behaviour and high-energy feeding level in beef cattle

Y. Bozkurt, S. Ozkaya and I. Ap Dewi
Additional contact information
Y. Bozkurt: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey
S. Ozkaya: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey
I. Ap Dewi: Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK

Czech Journal of Animal Science, 2006, vol. 51, issue 4, 151-156

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate an association between aggressiveness and high level of feeding in a half-open feedlot production system. An experiment was conducted on 72 head of beef cattle of different breeds. The animals were at about 10 months of age. Medium quality silage was offered ad libitum and supplemented with high (HE) and low level (LE) of barley (2.5 and 1.5 kg/day/head, respectively) and supplemented without (nil) or with (+) extracted soybean meal (0.45 kg/day/head). Several types of animal behaviour were observed such as those parameters that are categorized to be main aggressive behaviours, butting, being butted, mounting and being mounted. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in butting, being butted behaviours between HE and LE treatment groups. Mounting and being mounted behaviours were significantly different (P < 0.05) in steers and heifers and between the seasons as well. Steers performed more incidents of mounting behaviour than heifers and it was the same for spring, during which animals had more mounting behaviours. It was concluded that there was a close relationship between high-energy diets and aggressive behaviour, which necessitates some management measures to be taken in order to ensure better animal welfare and beef production.

Keywords: beef cattle; level of feeding; aggression; social behaviour; animal welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/3922-CJAS.html (text/html)
http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/3922-CJAS.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:51:y:2006:i:4:id:3922-cjas

DOI: 10.17221/3922-CJAS

Access Statistics for this article

Czech Journal of Animal Science is currently edited by Bc. Michaela Polcarová

More articles in Czech Journal of Animal Science from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().