Abstract To date, Qualitative Behavior Assessment (QBA) has not been used to measure the welfare of pre-partum Zebu heifers treated with practices of positive handling. The study objective was to investigate the effect of brushing as positive handling on animal behavior in the prepartum period, aside from establishing a qualitative behavior index to assess the animals’ well-being pre- and postpartum periods. Thirty-five Zebu, 21 Gyr and 14 Gyr/Holstein heifers were evaluated. Filming was performed during the prepartum period, and on postpartum day (PPD) 1, 5 and 15. The filmed material was evaluated based on the method of Qualitative Behavior Assessment (QBA). A total of 1942 evaluation sheets with 10 fixed descriptive terms were analyzed. The means of Qualitative Behavior Index (QBI) were compared by the Tukey-Kramer test at 5% probability. On PPD1, training improved the QBI of Gyr and Gyr/Holstein heifers by 93% and 43%, respectively. The cumulative sum of the first two components explained 73.32% of the variability in the datasets. High correlations were observed between the undesirable adjective pairs “nervous - aggressive” and “scared - irritable” (0.88); “confused-fearful” and “scared - irritable” (0.87) and between the desirable adjectives “calm - even-tempered” and” sociable - friendly” (0.78). The use of QBA to measure the welfare of pre- and postpartum Zebu heifers is applicable and efficient. The implementation of a training of prepartum Zebu heifers with environmental enrichment, tactile stimulation by brushing and human presence improved the adaptation of Zebu heifers to the postpartum milking system. We suggest brushing of Gyr heifers in the pre- as well as postpartum phases to improve the well-being of the animals.

中文翻译：

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包括给产前瘤牛小母牛刷毛的环境丰富性是否会改善第一次泌乳行为？

摘要 迄今为止，尚未使用定性行为评估 (QBA) 来衡量采用积极处理做法处理的产前瘤牛小母牛的福利。该研究的目的是调查刷牙作为积极处理对产前动物行为的影响，除了建立定性行为指数来评估动物产前和产后时期的健康状况。评估了 35 头瘤牛、21 Gyr 和 14 Gyr/荷斯坦小母牛。在产前和产后第 1、5 和 15 天进行拍摄。根据定性行为评估 (QBA) 方法对拍摄的材料进行评估。共分析了 1942 份具有 10 个固定描述性术语的评估表。定性行为指数 (QBI) 的平均值通过 Tukey-Kramer 检验以 5% 的概率进行比较。在 PPD1 上，训练将 Gyr 和 Gyr/Holstein 小母牛的 QBI 分别提高了 93% 和 43%。前两个分量的累积总和解释了数据集中 73.32% 的可变性。在不受欢迎的形容词对“紧张 - 攻击性”和“害怕 - 易怒”之间观察到高度相关性（0.88）；“困惑-恐惧”和“害怕-易怒”（0.87）以及理想的形容词“冷静-脾气暴躁”和“善于交际-友好”（0.78）之间。使用 QBA 来衡量产前和产后泽布小母牛的福利是适用和有效的。对产前小母牛进行环境丰富、刷牙的触觉刺激和人类存在的培训提高了泽布小母牛对产后挤奶系统的适应。