Use of qualitative behavior assessment to evaluate the maternal protective behavior in dairy and beef cattle - A preliminary study

The aim of this study was to assess the applicability of qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) as a methodology to assess maternal protective behavior (MPB) in dairy and beef cattle. The MPB of 275 Nellore (NE) beef cows and 26 Girolando (GI) dairy cows were measured when handling newborn calves for identification and navel care. NE cows handling occurred in a holding pen, bringing an average of 10 cows, with approximately 24 hours of calving. The GI cows' handling was held at the calf's birth paddock, within 1 hour after calving, on average. The QBA was applied using a list of 8 adjectives with behavioral predefinitions ('relaxed', 'agitated', 'attentive', 'irritable', 'aggressive', 'indifferent', 'concerned', and 'permissive') by interpreting the cows' body language and quantifying the adjectives along a 125 mm visual analogical scale. The QBA data was analyzed separately for each breed, using factor analysis with varimax rotation. The first factor explained 46.00 and 56.21% of the total variance in NE and GI data sets, respectively. The highest negative loadings were observed for the adjectives 'relaxed'/'permissive' (-0.86 / -0.80 for NE and -0.88 / -0.81 for GI cows), on the other hand the highest positive loadings were observed for the adjective 'agitated'/'irritable'/'aggressive' (0.80 / 0.74 / 0.86 for NE and 0.90 / 0.95 / 0.91 for GI cows). Cows with higher scores in the first factor reflected the worse response to handling. The second factor explained 25,38% of the remaining variance for NE and 30,66% for GI cows, with higher positive loadings for 'attentive' / 'concerned' (0.95 / 0.72 and 0.97 / 0.91 for NE and GI, respectively) and negative loading for 'indifferent' (NE: -0.94; GI: -0.95). Thus, it was consider that cows with desirable MPB are those that were more relaxed and permissive (negative scores on factor 1), and that not exhibited aggression or irritability, but remaining attentive and concerned about their offspring (positive scores in factor 2), either for NE and GI cows. In conclusion, it was observed that the QBA was enabled to characterize profiles of cows' maternal protective behavior in different cattle breeds and handling situations, being an alternative to assess MPB by using a qualitative methodology.