Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Cattle use their sense of smell to detect predators, choose a partner and to find food. In order to select which food they want to forage for, they use their senses of sight, taste, touch and smell. The attractiveness or repulsion of an odor depends on the ecology of the species, and the individual’s preferences and prior experiences. Research on how odors affect the foraging behaviors of cattle is limited. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate how the odors of peppermint, musc, mango, jasmine and vanilla affect foraging behaviours and feed intake in cows compared to an odor-free control bucket.

The study included eleven dairy cows during the dry-period in a preference test. The cows got to acclimatize to the experimental space where they subsequently were tested. Each cow got to choose between a bucket with only food and a bucket with both food and an odor. All of the odors were tested twice per cow alternating left and right side placement.

The results showed that the odors in this study didn’t cause the cows’ to experience discomfort at the same level as a social odor would. A significant difference in the time spent to consume the food was found between the control bucket and the odor bucket. The time spent sniffing was longer for all of the odor buckets, which indicated an exploratiry behaviour. Cows’ feed intake varied between the different odors. The different variables indicated that some odors were more attractive than others. Due to the limited sample size it is hard to draw larger conclusions that would apply to larger groups of cows. Therefore more research is needed to conclude odors effect on feeding behaviours and feed intake in cows.