Sleep & communication

Sleep

• Adult cattle sleep very little.
• The sleeping pose is all four legs tucked under and head turned to face the rear.
• Cattle must be well settled and comfortable before they will sleep. This has big implications for housed stock and design of cubicles.
• If animals are disturbed at night, they will sleep more during the day.

Communication

• Cattle use a range of body signals to communicate with each other.
• Their eyes have a key role. They use eyes down to show submission, and eyes up to show confidence.
• Cows on heat use mounting behaviour to signal to other cows and the bull.
• Bulls use at least 5 signals with their heads:
  • Normal relaxed position
  • Friendly approach before grooming by another cow
  • Threat approach – watching you with one eye and snorting
  • Submissive avoidance – pretending not to look
  • Withdrawal from conflict and head toss with snort
• The tail also slightly raised in heat and mild panic.