ANS 106 Dr. Sophia Yin Winter 2003 The Ability of Steers to Respond to Visual Cues to Track Food Locations ANS 106 Dr. Sophia Yin Winter 2003

Introduction The experiment tested the ability of feedlot steers to associate visual cues (road cones) in variable food locations. The use of road cones as an effective visual cue in this study relates to the ability of cattle to distinguish between different color wavelengths. Philips and Lomas (2001) discovered that calves were able to discriminate between both long and short, and long and medium wavelengths of light. This suggests that cattle are able to distinguish colors at the red end of the color spectrum from colors at the blue (short wavelength) end of the spectrum.

Introduction Cattle new to feedlot environments have been shown to experience a decrease in rumen volume, dry matter, total weight of rumen contents, and total protozoal population leading to both weight and financial losses (Loerch et al, 1999). The primary causes of weight and associated losses are primarily attributed to problems in finding food; cattle on range systems in cow/calf and stocker operations are not routinely fed out of feed bunks while cattle in feedlots are traditionally fed only out of feed bunks. If transferable across environments, this cue training would benefit cattle moving from pasture to feedlot or new pasture.

Implications If cattle can be trained to associate visual cues beginning in a pasture environment, and the same cues can be transferred into a feedlot environment, both stress on the animals and financial losses can be minimized.

Subjects Twenty hereford-angus crossbred steers approximately thirteen months of age. Animals were housed together in a 30 x 60’ pen with a feed bunk lining one side. Cattle were fed a concentrate ration twice daily. Subjects were chosen at random from all pens at the UCD feedlot and were randomly assigned to one of two test groups: variable locations without cues and variable location with cues. Treatment groups were marked with a corresponding grease chalk color (variable locations without cues = green mark, variable location with cues = red mark)

Materials two colors of grease chalk to identify test groups eight orange road cones four feeders to be placed at the end of each arm of the maze gates, chains, and fencing used to construct the maze were pre-existing at the feedlot

Cattle Maze

Preparations Animals were allowed to explore the maze one- hour prior to testing on each day of trials. The week prior to the trials orange road cones were fastened to feed bunks during feeding times to ‘train’ animals. Intermediate ration was placed in a feed bunk at the end of one of the four arms at the beginning of each individual trial.

Procedure Trials were performed over the course of three days with each animal performing once per trial day. Treatments were alternated every three animals to reduce order affects.

Procedure Subjects were placed in a holding pen in the center of the maze at the start of each individual trial. Gates to each arm were opened simultaneously and timing began as soon as all gates were open and commenced when the subject reached the feed bin and began to eat. After completion of a trial animals were returned to their original pen

Results

Results The individual average of the three trials for each animal was used for statistical analysis. Results show that there was no significant difference between the cued and un-cued groups when analyzed using a Mann-Whitney U non-parametric test (NL=10, NS=10, U=23, US= 34, P=0.05).

Confounding Factors & Problems in Experimental Design Distractions during testing: Cattle in pens lining the maze, shadows on certain arms of the maze, and the housing pen lying at the end of one of the arms may have decreased the effectiveness of cues. Habituation: Due to the extent of time the cones were displayed in the pens, and because cones were not moved during training, the subjects may have become used to the sight of the cones therefore affecting the results of the study. Stress: Subjects were found to display signs of distress upon being enclosed in the holding pen, vocalizing and turning quickly in circles this not only posed a difficulty to observers, yet may have affected the results of each trial as well.

Discussion There is no significant evidence to suggest that visual cues assist cattle in finding food based on the results from this experiment. These findings disagree with those found by Howery et al. (2000). This may be due to the distance of the maze from the housing pens and the location of training. Howery et al. (2000) trained the subjects in a maze away from the housing pens for a period of 12 days prior to the actual study. Although the results of this study did not show a significant difference between treatment groups, it is difficult to say from this experiment whether or not cattle are able to visual cues to track food locations.

Related Research Dumont, B. and M. Petit. 1998. Spatial Memory of Sheep at Pasture. Applied Animal Behavior Science. 60(1): 43-53. Howery, L. D., D. W. Bailey, G. B. Ruyle, W. J. Renken. 2000. Cattle Use Visual Cues to Track Food Locations. Applied Animal Behavior Science. 67(1-2): 1-14. Loerch, S.C. and F. L. Fluharty. 1999. Physiological Changes and Digestive Capabilities of Newly Received Feedlot Cattle. Journal of Animal Science. 77(4): 1113- 1119. Lofgreen, G. P. and H.E. Kiedling. 1985. Effects of Receiving and Growing Diets on Compensatory Gains of Stressed Calves. Journal of Animal Science. 61(2): 320-328. Philips, C.J.C. and C.A. Lomas. 2001. The perception of color by cattle and its influence on behavior. Journal of Dairy Science. 84(4), 807-813.