Samenvatting

Conventional dairy husbandry systems acknowledge animal welfare guided by Brambel’s five freedoms. The concept of natural, or normal behaviour would in contrast to Brambel’s convention, be based on stability through chance and offers a less anthropocentric and more naturalistic approach. The present study has been done to get insight in the origin constellation of behaviours and the natural proportion of activity and resting related behaviours. The acquired results could provide guidelines for naturalness, leading to improved welfare in conventional husbandry. Since no natural species of the Bos genus are left to study the behaviour of, a lesser domesticated, or natural Bos taurus race had to be chosen instead: Scottish Highland Cattle proved to be an adequate representative for the origin wild species. The study group consisted of 14 oxen of the same age class to ensure homogeneous measurements. Research took place on a 220 ha sized part of the Dutch national park Drents-Friese Wold under semi-wild circumstances. There, the SHC oxen are utilized as a tool in nature area management as an alternative for mechanically mowing patches of the land.