3. Results
The mean and ranges of the main human and cow variables studied are presented in Table 1.
Some of the cow behaviour variables were moderately to highly correlated with cow Ž
. productivity Table 2 . The average time that a cow spent within 3 m of the experi-
Ž .
Ž .
menter in the standard test TIMEIN3 was positively correlated P - 0.01 with milk Ž
. Ž
. Ž
. yield YIELD and milk fat FAT . TIMEIN3 was also positively correlated P - 0.05
Ž .
Ž .
with milk protein PROTEIN . There were also negative correlations P - 0.05 be-
tween the cow variables, the number of flinch, step and kick responses when cups were Ž
. attached FSKon , average sum of the number of flinch and step responses and flinch,
Ž .
step and kick responses per cow when cups were attached FS q FSKon and the production variables, YIELD and PROTEIN. There were no significant correlations
Ž .
Ž .
Ž P s 0.05 between TIMEIN3 and FS q FSKon r s y0.04 and FS q FSKtotal r s
. y0.22 .
A regression analysis, conducted to determine the contribution of cow behaviour to the prediction of cow productivity, with YIELD as the dependent variable, revealed that
Ž
2
TIMEIN3 accounted for considerable variation in productivity R s 0.19, F s 7.39,
1,28
Table 2 Correlation coefficients between dependent variables, cow productivity, and cow behaviour and stockperson
attitude and behaviour Critical values for r, Õ s 27, 0.367, P - 0.05; 0.470, P - 0.01.
Significant correlations at
U
P - 0.05 and
UU
P - 0.01. a, high score represents a positive attitude.
Independent variables Cow productivity
Yield Protein
Fat Cow behaÕiour
U UU
U
TIMEIN3 0.46
0.49 0.43
U U
FSqFSKon y0.38
y0.44 y0.33
U U
FSKon y0.37
y0.39 y0.25
FSqFSKtotal y0.31
y0.32 y0.25
FSKtotal y0.35
y0.35 y0.18
Stockperson behaÕiour P1
0.05 0.07
0.01 N1
0.11 0.10
0.02
U U
N2 y0.32
y0.38 y0.38
U U
U
N2 y0.39
y0.45 y0.40
V1 0.10
0.09 y0.05
U U
UU
V y0.40
y0.45 y0.56
2
W y0.17
y0.34 y0.32
U
SPEED50 y0.38
y0.33 y0.32
Stockperson attitude
UU UU
ATTITUDE SCOREa 0.48
0.47 0.36
. P - 0.01 . The prediction of YIELD significantly increased with only the inclusion of
Ž
2
. FS q FSKon R s 0.30, F
s 6.93, P - 0.01 .
2, 26
A number of the stockperson behaviour variables and the stockperson attitude Ž
. variable were correlated with cow productivity
Table 2 . There were significant Ž
. negative correlations P - 0.05 between the stockperson behaviour variable, the per-
Ž .
centage of highly negative tactile interactions used by the stockperson N2 and the production variables, YIELD, PROTEIN and FAT. A number of these behaviour
variables during some of the discrete milking activities were also correlated with production. N2 when forcing cows into position in the milking shed and N2 when
Ž moving cows out of the shed were significantly correlated with YIELD r s y0.40 and
. y0.39, respectively, P - 0.05 . There were also negative correlations between the
Ž .
stockperson behaviour variable, the number of loud or harsh vocalisations V2 used by Ž
. Ž
. Ž
. the stockperson and YIELD
P - 0.05 , PROTEIN P - 0.05 and FAT
P - 0.01 . Ž
. The use of highly negative tactile interactions N2 , while not significantly correlated
Ž .
with YIELD r s y0.32, P 0.05 , was significantly correlated with PROTEIN and Ž
. FAT Table 2 . Speed of movement of the stockperson when moving the cows from
Ž .
pasture to the milking shed over the last 50 m SPEED50 was negatively correlated Ž
. Ž
. P - 0.05 with YIELD. The attitude composite score ATTITUDE SCORE , which
included questionnaire items of petting and talking to cows, ease of movement of cows and the ability of cows to recognise unfamiliar stockpeople, was positively correlated
Ž .
Ž .
P - 0.01 with YIELD and PROTEIN Table 2 . Ž
. The incidence of lameness was not significantly associated P s 0.05 with any of
the cow or human behaviour variables studied. Average herd size was not significantly Ž
. associated P s 0.05 with cow behaviour or cow productivity variables.
Table 3 Correlation coefficients between dependent variables, cow behaviour, and stockperson attitude and behaviour
Independent variables Cow behaviour
TIMEIN3 FSqFSKon
Stockperson behaÕiour P1
0.10 0.00
N1 0.02
y0.21 N2
y0.28 0.04
N2 y0.30
0.14 NEG
y0.19 y0.09
U
V1 y0.30
y0.37
UU
V2 y0.21
0.48
UU
W y0.55
0.13
U
SPEED50 y0.09
0.39 Stockperson attitude
U
ATTITUDE SCOREa 0.30
y0.37 Critical values for r, Õ s 27, 0.367, P - 0.05; 0.470, P - 0.01.
Significant correlations at
U
P - 0.05 and
UU
P - 0.01. a, high score represents a positive attitude.
Table 4 Correlation coefficients between the dependent variable, stockperson attitude, and stockperson behaviour
Independent variable Stockperson behaÕiour
SPEED50 P1
N1 N2
N2 V1
V2 W
Stockperson attitude
UU U
ATTITUDE SCOREa y0.23
0.17 0.13
y0.36 y0.50
0.45 y0.25
y0.28 Critical values for r, Õ s 27, 0.367, P - 0.05; 0.470, P - 0.01.
Significant correlations at
U
P - 0.05 and
UU
P - 0.01. a, high score represents a positive attitude.
Although stockperson behaviour was in general poorly correlated with cow behaviour Ž
. Table 3 , there were some consistent moderate correlations. For example, the number of
Ž .
waves displayed by the stockperson in moving cows WAVE was negatively correlated Ž
. Ž
. P - 0.01 with TIMEIN3. N2, N2 and the number of soft or quiet vocalisations V1 ,
Ž .
although not significantly P s 0.05
correlated, were moderately associated with Ž
. Ž
. TIMEIN3. The number of vocalisations, quiet or soft V1 and loud or harsh V2 and
Ž .
SPEED50 were significantly P - 0.05, P - 0.01 and P - 0.05, respectively correlated Ž
. with the cow behaviour variable FS q FSKon Table 3 . N2 when moving cows out of
Ž .
the shed was significantly correlated with FS q FSKon r s y0.39, P - 0.05 . In
Ž addition, the composite score used to assess attitude of the stockperson ATTITUDE
. Ž
. Ž
. SCORE was negatively correlated P - 0.05 with FS q FSKon Table 3 .
Ž .
ATTITUDE SCORE was negatively correlated P - 0.01
with the stockperson Ž
. behaviour variable, N2, and positively correlated with V1 Table 4 . ATTITUDE
SCORE was negatively correlated with N2 when moving cows out of the shed Ž
. r s y0.55, P - 0.01 . Regression analysis with N2 as the dependent variable
Ž
2
showed that ATTITUDE SCORE accounted for significant variance R s 0.20, F s
1,27
. 8.19, P - 0.01 . The variables V2 and ATTITUDE SCORE were significant predictors
Ž
2
. of the variable FS q FSKon R s 0.25, F
s 5.68, P - 0.01 .
2,26
Ž .
There was a significant negative correlation r s y0.37, P - 0.05 between the
Ž .
stockperson behavioural variable, the number of positive tactile interactions P1 , and Ž
. incidence of lameness. V1 was positively correlated with P1 r s 0.43, P - 0.05 , and
V2 was positively correlated with N2 and N2 when moving cows out of the shed Ž
. r s 0.37 and 0.37, P - 0.05 .
4. Discussion
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