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Behavioral Studies of Dairy Cow Sensitivity to AC and DC Electric Currents
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1985
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Livestock ProductionEducationLivestock HealthDc Electric CurrentsPrecision DairyKinesiologyPublic HealthAnimal ProductionAnimal PhysiologyBehavioral StudiesAnimal PerformanceResponse RateNervous SystemAnimal AgricultureAnimal ScienceBody PathwaysPhysiologyVeterinary ScienceDairy Cow SensitivityElectrophysiologyBody Pathway
ABSTRACT DAIRY cow behavioral responses to alternating and direct current were examined for three body pathways: mouth-to-all hooves, front-to-rear hooves and body-to-all hooves. For mouth-to-all hooves and front-to-rear hooves pathways, response frequency functions were obtained over a range of 0-5 mAAC and 0-6 mADC. At significant levels of response, a higher DC than AC current was needed to obtain the same response. At a 50% response rate, a 34% higher DC current than AC was needed for the front-to-rear path and 22% higher for mouth-to-all hooves. Front-to-rear hooves response rate became statistically significant above 2.0 mAAC and 1.0 mADC. Mouth-to-all hooves response rate became significant above 2 mAAC and 4 mADC. Response rate for a body-to-all hooves pathway with currents from 0-7.5 mAAC and 0-9 mADC were inconclusive. No reliable response pattern was obtained for this body pathway.