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McCall, C. A. (1990). A Review of Learning Behavior in Horses and its Application in Horse Training. J. Anim Sci., 68(1), 75–81.
Abstract: A literature review of the equine learning research conducted in the past 20 yr revealed that the purpose of most of the studies was to determine whether horses respond to learning situations in the same way that other animals do. The results indicated that horses can discriminate many different types of stimuli, and they learn through stimulus-response- reinforcement chains. Most equine learning studies have utilized learning tasks depending on primary positive reinforcement to get the horses to work the tests. Yet, the majority of horse trainers use negative reinforcement more often than primary positive reinforcement in their training procedures. Therefore, past research often did not have a direct application to training methods commonly utilized in the horse industry. Research also demonstrated that 1) early experiences of horses can affect learning ability later, 2) equine memory is efficient and 3) concentrating learning mals in long training sessions decreases equine learning efficiency. Many factors that might affect equine learning ability and be applicable to training practices in the horse industry have not been thoroughly investigated; for example, interactions between nutrition and learning and between exercise and learning, the use of negative and secondary reinforcements in horse training, and the horse's ability to make few initial errors compared to its ability to eliminate errors as training progresses all require investigation in future equine learning studies. N1 -
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Golden, J. W., Kerley, M. S., & Kolath, W. H. (2007). The relationship of feeding behavior to feed efficiency in crossbred Angus steers fed traditional and no roughage diets. J. Anim Sci., , jas.2005–569-.
Abstract: Two studies were conducted to determine the relationship of feeding behavior to the phenotypic expression of feed efficiency. In Exp. 1, a feedlot diet containing roughage was fed (traditional). In Exp. 2, a no-roughage diet was fed. Residual feed intake (RFI), a measure of feed efficiency, was calculated for both studies. In Exp. 1, 6 feed efficient (low RFI) steers and 6 feed inefficient steers (high RFI) were selected from a contemporary group of 80 steers, and feeding behaviors were analyzed. In Exp. 2, 9 feed efficient and 8 feed inefficient steers were selected from a contemporary group of 40 steers. There were no differences (P > 0.13) in initial or final BW or ADG between efficient and inefficient groups in either Exp. 1 or 2. In Exp. 1 DMI and average eating bouts daily differed (P < 0.001) with efficient steers consuming less feed and eating fewer times per day. In Exp. 2, efficient steers consumed less (P < 0.001) feed, and average eating bouts daily tended (P = 0.07) to be fewer in efficient animals. Limited differences were noted in feeding behavior between groups, with inefficient steers from both studies having a more variable eating pattern throughout the day. The average daily eating rate did not differ (P > 0.20) between groups in either experiment. The average number of days comprising a feeding pattern for both feed efficiency groups in Exp. 1 and 2 was found to be 2 to 3 d and multiples of 2 to 3 d. In Exp. 1 the feed intake pattern of efficient and inefficient steers changed once they reached a BW of approximately 391 kg and 381 kg, respectively. This occurred near d 47 for the efficient steers and near d 32 for inefficient steers. In Exp. 2 the feed intake pattern of both efficient and inefficient steers changed once they reached a BW of approximately 399 kg, which occurred on d 31 for the efficient steers and on d 33 for the inefficient steers. From the measured variables there were no differences in growth and limited differences noted in feeding behavior between feed efficient and feed inefficient groups. The results of the trials suggest increased variability of feed intake throughout the day for feed inefficient animals.
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Allen, C. (1998). Assessing animal cognition: ethological and philosophical perspectives. J. Anim Sci., 76(1), 42–47.
Abstract: Developments in the scientific and philosophical study of animal cognition and mentality are of great importance to animal scientists who face continued public scrutiny of the treatment of animals in research and agriculture. Because beliefs about animal minds, animal cognition, and animal consciousness underlie many people's views about the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals, it has become increasingly difficult for animal scientists to avoid these issues. Animal scientists may learn from ethologists who study animal cognition and mentality from an evolutionary and comparative perspective and who are at the forefront of the development of naturalistic and laboratory techniques of observation and experimentation that are capable of revealing the cognitive and mental properties of nonhuman animals. Despite growing acceptance of the ethological study of animal cognition, there are critics who dispute the scientific validity of the field, especially when the topic is animal consciousness. Here, a proper understanding of developments in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science can help to place cognitive studies on a firm methodological and philosophical foundation. Ultimately, this is an interdisciplinary task, involving scientists and philosophers. Animal scientists are well-positioned to contribute to the study of animal cognition because they typically have access to a large pool of potential research subjects whose habitats are more controlled than in most field studies while being more natural than most laboratory psychology experiments. Despite some formidable questions remaining for analysis, the prospects for progress in assessing animal cognition are bright.
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Pere, M. C. (1995). Maternal and fetal blood levels of glucose, lactate, fructose, and insulin in the conscious pig. J. Anim Sci., 73(10), 2994–2999.
Abstract: To study nutrition and metabolism in the fetal pig, a chronic catheterization method was developed that allows blood sampling in arteries and veins, at both the umbilical and uterine sources, in the conscious, unstressed animal. A catheter was inserted in the fetal aorta through a femoral artery, and another one was introduced in the umbilical vein. A catheter was put in a femoral artery of the sow so that its end was in the abdominal aorta. A fourth catheter was placed in a uterine vein draining the fetoplacental unit studied. This procedure was applied to 18 Large White primiparous sows at 99 d of gestation. Blood samples were drawn simultaneously using the four catheters before a meal at 103 d of pregnancy, and glucose, insulin, lactate, and fructose were determinated. Glycemia was 2.5 times higher in the sow than in the fetus. The extraction coefficient of glucose by the fetus amounted to 14% of the umbilical supply. The insulin level in the fetal pig was very low ( < 5 microU/mL). Lactate and fructose seemed to originate from the placenta. Blood lactate was 2.6 times lower in the sow than in the fetus, and its extraction coefficient by the fetus amounted to 8%. Fructose in the fetal blood was 2.3 times higher than that of glucose. Fructose was not utilized by the pig fetus. The present results obtained in the fetal pig are comparable to the conclusions drawn from studies with other species.
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Swanson, J. C. (1995). Farm animal well-being and intensive production systems. J. Anim Sci., 73(9), 2744–2751.
Abstract: Animal welfare, or well-being, is a social issue with ethical, scientific, political, and aesthetic properties. Answering questions about the welfare of animals requires scientific definition, assessment, solutions, and public acceptance. With respect to the actual well-being of the animal, most issues are centered on how the animal “feels” when managed within a specific level of confinement, during special agricultural practices (e.g., tail docking, beak trimming, etc.) and handling. Questions of this nature may require exploration of animal cognition, motivation, perception, and emotional states in addition to more commonly recognized indicators of well-being. Several general approaches have emerged for solving problems concerning animal well-being in intensive production systems: environmental, genetic, and therapeutic. Environmental approaches involve modifying existing systems to accommodate specific welfare concerns or development of alternative systems. Genetic approaches involve changing the behavioral and (or) physiological nature of the animal to reduce or eliminate behaviors that are undesirable within intensive system. Therapeutic approaches of a physical (tail docking, beak trimming) and physiological (drug and nutritional therapy) nature bring both concern and promise with regard to the reduction of confinement stress. Finally, the recent focus on commodity quality assurance programs may indirectly provide benefits for animal well-being. Although research in the area of animal well-being will provide important information for better animal management, handling, care, and the physical design of intensive production systems there is still some uncertainty regarding public acceptance. The aesthetics of modern intensive production systems may have as much to do with public acceptance as with science.
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Duncan, I. J., & Petherick, J. C. (1991). The implications of cognitive processes for animal welfare. J. Anim Sci., 69(12), 5017–5022.
Abstract: In general, codes that have been designed to safeguard the welfare of animals emphasize the importance of providing an environment that will ensure good health and a normal physiological and physical state, that is, they emphasize the animals' physical needs. If mental needs are mentioned, they are always relegated to secondary importance. The argument is put forward here that animal welfare is dependent solely on the cognitive needs of the animals concerned. In general, if these cognitive needs are met, they will protect the animals' physical needs. It is contended that in the few cases in which they do not safeguard the physical needs, it does not matter from a welfare point of view. The human example is given of being ill. It is argued that welfare is only adversely affected when a person feels ill, knows that he or she is ill, or even thinks that he or she is ill, all of which processes are cognitive ones. The implications for welfare of animals possessing certain cognitive abilities are discussed. For example, the extent to which animals are aware of their internal state while performing behavior known to be indicative of so-called states of suffering, such as fear, frustration, and pain, will determine how much they are actually suffering. With careful experimentation it may be possible to determine how negative they feel these states to be. Similarly, the extent to which animals think about items or events absent from their immediate environment will determine how frustrated they are in the absence of the real item or event but in the presence of the cognitive representation.
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Curtis, S. E., & Stricklin, W. R. (1991). The importance of animal cognition in agricultural animal production systems: an overview. J. Anim Sci., 69(12), 5001–5007.
Abstract: To describe and then fulfill agricultural animals' needs, we must learn more about their fundamental psychological and behavioral processes. How does this animal feel? Is that animal suffering? Will we ever be able to know these things? Scientists specializing in animal cognition say that there are numerous problems but that they can be overcome. Recognition by scientists of the notion of animal awareness has been increasing in recent years, because of the work of Griffin and others. Feeling, thinking, remembering, and imagining are cognitive processes that are factors in the economic and humane production of agricultural animals. It has been observed that the animal welfare debate depends on two controversial questions: Do animals have subjective feelings? If they do, can we find indicators that reveal them? Here, indirect behavioral analysis approaches must be taken. Moreover, the linear additivity of several stressor effects on a variety of animal traits suggests that some single phenomenon is acting as a “clearinghouse” for many or all of the stresses acting on an animal at any given time, and this phenomenon might be psychological stress. Specific situations animals may encounter in agricultural production settings are discussed with respect to the animals' subjective feelings.
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Provenza, F. D. (1996). Acquired aversions as the basis for varied diets of ruminants foraging on rangelands. J. Anim Sci., 74(8), 2010–2020.
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Apple, J. K., Kegley, E. B., Galloway, D. L., Wistuba, T. J., Rakes, L. K., & Yancey, J. W. S. (2006). Treadmill exercise is not an effective methodology for producing the dark-cutting condition in young cattle. J. Anim Sci., 84(11), 3079–3088.
Abstract: Holstein steer calves (n = 25) were used to evaluate the effects of treadmill exercise (TME) on blood metabolite status and formation of dark-cutting beef. Calves were blocked by BW (156 {+/-} 33.2 kg) and assigned randomly within blocks to 1 of 5 TME treatments arranged in a 2 x 2 factorial design (4 or 8 km/h for a duration of 10 or 15 min) with a nonexercised control. Venous blood was collected via indwelling jugular catheters at 10, 2, and 0 min before TME and at 2-min intervals during exercise. Nonexercised steers were placed on the treadmill but stood still for 15 min. Serum cortisol levels, as well as plasma concentrations of glucose, lactate, and NEFA, were similar (P > 0.05) before TME. Serum cortisol concentrations were unaffected (P > 0.05) during the first 6 min of TME, but between 8 and 15 min of TME, cortisol concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) in steers exercised at 8 km/h than those exercised at 4 km/h or controls (speed x time, P < 0.001). Although TME did not affect (P > 0.05) plasma glucose levels, plasma lactate concentrations in steers exercised at 8 km/h increased (P < 0.05) sharply with the onset of the TME treatment and remained elevated compared with steers exercised at 4 km/h or unexercised controls (speed x time, P < 0.001). Exercised steers had the lowest (P < 0.05) plasma NEFA concentrations during the first 6 min of TME compared with unexercised steers; however, NEFA concentrations were similar after 10 and 12 min of TME, and by the end of TME, steers exercised at 8 km/h had greater (P < 0.05) NEFA levels than nonexercised controls or steers exercised at 4 km/h (speed x time, P < 0.001). Even though muscle glycogen levels and pH decreased (P < 0.001) and muscle lactate concentrations increased (P < 0.001) with increasing time postmortem, neither treadmill speed nor TME duration altered postmortem LM metabolism. Consequently, there were no (P > 0.05) differences in the color, water-holding capacity, shear force, or incidences of dark-cutting carcasses associated with preslaughter TME. It is apparent that preslaughter TME, at the speeds and durations employed in this study, failed to alter antemortem or postmortem muscle metabolism and would not be a suitable animal model for studying the formation of the dark-cutting condition in ruminants.
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Lanier, J. L., Grandin, T., Green, R. D., Avery, D., & McGee, K. (2000). The relationship between reaction to sudden, intermittent movements and sounds and temperament. J. Anim Sci., 78(6), 1467–1474.
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