APPLICATIONS OF THE OBSERVER 3.0 IN THE USDA-ARS LIVESTOCK BEHAVIOR RESEARCH UNIT
J. Morrow-Tesch, J. Dailey, C. Murphy, E. Bord, B. Jones, B. Fulmer and J. Smith
USDA-ARS Livestock Behavior Research Unit, Poultry Science Building, West Lafayette, USA
The United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service
(USDA-ARS) instituted a research unit in 1992 to study behavior and
well-being of food-producing animals. The goals of the unit are to (1)
identify behavioral and physiological indicators of well-being and (2)
investigate learning and cognition in food-producing animals. In order
to achieve these goals, an ability to record and accurately analyze
behavior is required. We have used the Noldus Observer 3.0
video system with excellent results. Some of the projects we use
The Observer for include:
- Behavioral changes occurring in group-housed dairy calves with and without environmental enrichment devices,
- The effect of environment on development of re-directed behavior in piglets,
- Behavioral indicators of stress in calves following castration,
- A complete ethogram of stall-housed horses (utilizing the hand-held Psion computer), and
- Post-natal behavior of lambs in a fetal alcohol syndrome model.
These projects demonstrate the flexibility of The Observer 3.0 for use in large animal work and its usefulness in behavioral studies with domestic livestock.
Poster presented at Measuring Behavior '96, International Workshop on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 16-18 October 1996, Utrecht, The Netherlands