Hair whorls of Holstein Friesian heifers and affects on growth and behaviour

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the growth, number of crossed squares in the open-field test and time of traversing the maze in the maze are affected by the height position of they facial whorl in heifers which were kept in experimental conditions. Fifty-eight Holstein heifers were used. The hair whorl position was determined as hair whorl high, middle and low. Heifers with a high whorl had significantly higher body weight at days 360 (P<0.05) and 540 (P<0.01) and average daily gains from birth to 21 months (P<0.001) and from the 6th to 21st months (P<0.01) of age. We did not find any significant differences among hair whorl position groups either in open-field tests or in the maze. The present results show that the growth is influenced in the investigated dairy cattle by height of their facial whorl.