Heat stress in a temperate climate leads to adapted sensor-based behavioral patterns of dairy cows

Most research on heat stress has focused on (sub)tropical climates. The effects of higher ambient temperatures on the daily behavior of dairy cows in a maritime and temperate climate are less studied. With this retrospective observational study, we address that gap by associating the daily time budgets of dairy cows in the Netherlands with daily temperature and temperature-humidity index (THI) variables. During a period of 4 years, cows on 8 commercial dairy farms in the Netherlands were equipped with neck and leg sensors to collect data from 4,345 cow lactations regarding their daily time budget. The time spent eating, ruminating, lying, standing, and walking was recorded. Individual cow data were divided into 3 data sets: (1) lactating cows from 5 farms with a conventional milking system (CMS) and pasture access, (2) lactating cows from 3 farms with an automatic milking system (AMS) without pasture access, and (3) dry cows from all 8 farms. Hourly environment temperature and relative humidity data from the nearest weather station of the Dutch National Weather Service was used for THI calculation for each farm. Based on heat stress thresholds from previous studies, daily mean temperatures were grouped into 7 categories: 0 = (<0°C), 1 = (0–12°C, reference category), 2 = (12–16°C), 3 = (16–20°C), 4 = (20–24°C), 5 = (24–28°C), and 6 = (≥28°C). Temperature-humidity index values were grouped as follows: 0 = (THI <30), 1 = (THI 30–56, reference category), 2 = (THI 56–60), 3 = (THI 60–64), 4 = (THI 64–68), 5 = (THI 68–72) and 6 = (THI ≥72). To associate daily mean temperature and THI with sensor-based behavioral parameters of dry cows and of lactating cows from AMS and CMS farms, we used generalized linear mixed models. In addition, associations between sensor data and other climate variables, such as daily maximum and minimum temperature, and THI were analyzed. On the warmest days, eating time decreased in the CMS group by 92 min/d, in the AMS group by 87 min/d, and in the dry group by 75 min/d compared with the reference category. Lying time decreased in the CMS group by 36 min/d, in the AMS group by 56 min/d, and in the dry group by 33 min/d. Adaptation to daily temperature and THI was already noticeable from a mean temperature of 12°C or a mean THI of 56 or above, when dairy cows started spending less time lying and eating and spent more time standing. Further, rumination time decreased, although only in dry cows and cows on AMS farms. With higher values for daily mean THI and temperature, walking time decreased as well. These patterns were very similar for temperature and THI variables. These results show that dairy cows in temperate climates begin to adapt their behavior at a relatively low mean environmental temperature or THI. In the temperate maritime climate of the Netherlands, our results indicate that daily mean temperature suffices to study the effects of behavioral adaptation to heat stress in dairy cows.