Abstract
In order to obtain detailed information on eliminative and lying behavior, observations on nine Holstein cows housed in total confinement in stanchion stalls were made. Behaviors observed included defecation, urination, and lying, and the records were collected by visual observations for 24 consecutive hours on each of the 3 occasions. Average values of the behavioral observations were summarized as follows: frequency of defecations and urinations were 9.0±2.5 and 4.3±2.2 times with ranges of 5.3 to 12.0 and of 2.3 to 8.0, respectively. The times required for elimination by defecation and by urination were 7.6±2.6 and 11.7±5.5min, with ranges of 6.1 to 10.5 and 7.7 to 19.8min, respectively. The frequency of periods lying down, total duration of lying, and duration per lying were 11.8±6.5 (range 2 to 21), 625.6±166.4min, (range 398 to 807) and 53.5±51.5min, (range 24.3 to 212.3), respectively. The average intervals between defecations, between urinations and between lyings were 160.8±99.6min, 335.2±245.3min, and 69.6±12.1min, respectively. Significant differences were found between the day-time (8:00-20:00) and the night-time (20:00-8:00) in all recorded behavioral data except the time required for defecation and the interval between defecations.
