Floor type preference and associated behaviours of finishing beef cattle

The objective of this study was to investigate the preference and associated behaviours of finishing beef cattle for different floor types. Two experiments each comprising of forty steers (Experiment 1; 549 kg live weight, SD 10.8; Experiment 2, 564 kg, SD 27.7) were used. For each experiment, animals were weighed on two consecutive days and blocked by breed, age and live weight, and assigned to ten modified experimental pens, with the option to choose between two floor types, of either; i) concrete slatted floor (CS) or ii) concrete slats overlaid with rubber mat (RM) - Experiment 1; and i) RM or ii) CS overlaid with straw (Straw) - Experiment 2; for a duration of 21 days. Animals were offered a total mixed ration based on grass silage plus concentrates ad libitum, along the front of each pen. Animal behaviour in each pen was recorded continuously and the video footage from days 1, 2, 3, 9 and 20 was analysed at 10-minute intervals by a single observer. In Experiment 1, steers consistently preferred the RM floor type ( P < 0.001), spending, on average, 77% of their time on RM compared to 23% on CS. When steers selected RM they exhibited a greater percentage of time lying down (P < 0.001), “true” eating, and less time standing idle ( P < 0.05), eating drinking, rubbing, auto-grooming ( P < 0.001) and allo-grooming ( P < 0.01) compared to those on CS. There was no difference in the percentage of time that steers engaged in head-butting on either floor type. In Experiment 2, steers consistently preferred the straw floor type ( P < 0.001), spending, on average, 75% of their time on straw compared to 25% on RM. Steers that selected straw spent a greater percentage of time lying down (P < 0.001), and less time standing idle, eating, drinking, rubbing and auto-grooming ( P < 0.001) compared to those on RM. There was no difference in the percentage of time that steers engaged in “true” eating, allo-grooming and head-butting on either floor type. In conclusion, finishing beef cattle showed a clear preference for softer flooring surfaces, spending more time lying down.