Animal behaviour and welfare. Training heifers for milking routines

Training heifers for milking routines

By Dr Clive Dalton

Research knowledge
There is now plenty of research to show that cattle can learn basic routines in a very short time, and these can result in economic benefits to the farming business.

With hand milking and in the early days of machine milking when herds were small, the importance of the ‘human-animal bond’ was well known.  In the recent move to large herds, there has been a massive tendency to forget about cow behaviour and the importance of ‘stockmanship’, which is all about this intriguing bond.

Rising costs
With the rising costs and worldwide shortage of skilled labour, especially in large herds, management needs to exploit the human-animal bond to produce more milk with high animal welfare standards, which will achieve high returns on capital invested.

The animal's view

On the animal side, because milking letdown is under hormone control, cows which are less stressed produce more milk, have lower Somatic Cell Count (SCC) so milk quality is improved, and they have less mastitis with less pain and suffering, and reduced veterinary costs.

The human's view

On the human side, when the milking routine is a pleasant experience, the milkers’ positive vibes are automatically transferred to the cow, and especially the maiden heifer calving for the first time.

If the human has trained the heifer well for this first lactation so she won’t meet any novel or traumatic experiences during milking, then a successful outcome in achieved in terms of animal welfare, animal health, veterinary costs and more milk in the silo for the rest of her life.

Heifer training routine



The heifer training routine below has been developed by Landcorp Pastoral Farming near Taupo, under the supervision of Farm Manager David Morgan. 

It is to be highly commended as an example of how the human- animal bond should be exploited.




Routine details
Stage 1

1. Bring heifers from the paddock into the collecting yard at the dairy and let them stand without disturbance. This allows them to experience the smells and sounds and feel the hard concrete under their feet. 
   

  

2. No people should be present and no radio playing  or any other noise.

3.  No access to milking bails (note gate across entrance to bails to close them off).  

 

 4.   Gate between entry and exit to and from the platform open (see picture above).   This allows free exit from the yard.

5.  Heifers should exit and move away from the yard and out of sight of those standing waiting. They have got to appear to be escaping back to a paddock.

  

6. Do this routine for 3 days.

Stage 2

1. Bring heifers into the collecting yard.
2.  No people present.
3. Radio on.
4. Allow access to 3 bails with feed (molasses) in the troughs.
5. Allow free exit from the yard, again making sure heifers appear (to their mates standing in the yard) to be escaping in a regular flow.
6. Do this for 4 days.  Over this time, most heifers will have learned to enter a bail to taste the feed, and back off while it is stopped.

Stage 3

1. The platform is set moving at the lowest speed possible.
2.  Radio on.
3. Milking machines turned on.
4. All the bails are kept full of feed.
5. Heifers are allowed to enter and leave the bail on their own.
6. While on the bail, udders are treated with wetit and/or teatspray.
7. Near the end of each session, a person gently guides any reluctant heifers to enter the platform with a small backing gate. By the end of 2 days of this practice, all heifers are happily going on the platform. (See picture below - manager showing where he stands holding gate).
   

  
 

Farm manager showing where he stands to encourage any of the last reluctant heifers to go on to the platform.  He quietly closes the gate behind them so they walk on.

8. The total training has taken 2 weeks.

Stage 4

1.  Heifers calve with the cows.
2.  They come in for their first milking after their calves have been picked up in the calving paddock.
3. Their udders are massaged before the cups are put on for the first time.

 Heifers return to grazing on their own with no dogs or stress, attracted by a new feed break.

Introduction to Practical Animal Breeding

Clive Dalton's latest1980 Practical Animal Breeding textbook - is devoted to providing a pragmatic person's guide to the sciences of animal breeding, genetics, population genetics, basic biology and Mendelism, with examples and case studies of their application in agriculture, farming, animal production, and livestock improvement.

Detailed information is provided on the practical application of scientific theories for breeding and selection decisions, breeding methods, breeding practice, breeds, breed structure; with a focus on cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry.

As a student in the early 1950s at King’s College, University of Durham in Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, I developed a great interest in animal breeding.  Those were the days of text books which we students revered, and they were relevant for decades.

I also worshipped my Kiwi Prof,  M.M (Mac) Cooper who did more for practical animal breeding in UK than anyone before or since.   After my PhD in sheep breeding in North Wales, I went on to teach animal production at Leeds University and do breeding research with laboratory mice. Farm animals were not available which had many advantages in terms of quick turnover of generations.

So by this stage I had seen every textbook on the subject and had ‘tried’ to read them all. They would have made a stack about a metre high and the vast majority of them although editorial masterpieces were terrible to read.

They all started off saying the book was designed for students, and some would even add farmers to the intended audience.  All went well for the first chapter or maybe two, until you hit Mendel and his peas.
Then soon after this, you hit algebra and calculus, and that was the end for most folk who were desperate to know what to do after you had the sheep into the pens, or the cows in the yard. Then what?

How did you sort out the best ones for breeding and the worst for culling?  Students rarely got to this point, and even if they did, they were so switched off by Mendel and algebra that they gave it all away.

Lecturers killed animal breeding for most students.  Having suffered the pain of listening to hours of this as a student, and being very conscious of the pain I inflicted on my students when covering the syllabus to get them to pass exams, frustration motivated me to try to keep things simple.

When I moved into animal breeding research in New Zealand, I really enjoyed the relief of not having to bore students to death any more with genetics and animal breeding.  It was over - so I thought.

Then as our research developed, we had regular groups of farmers and university students coming to the research station to see what was going on, and asking not just the ‘what’ questions, but the more important ‘why’ ones too.

We initiated large scale breeding schemes with 280,000 sheep and 16,000 beef cattle where the staff involved wanted to know the background theory to the programmes.

So I was back in the business of explaining genetics and animal breeding all over again - but this time, the ‘students’ couldn’t get enough of the subject, and drove us to exhaustion with their searching questions.  It was an incredibly rewarding time.

So this book really came from those years. It was written in 1980 and a lot has changed since them in the high-tech end of genetics, and with computers having so much more power to analyse massive amounts of field data.  But not much has changed down at the sheep and cattle yards where we are still looking for the best stock, and deciding what  to mate them to, to bring about improvement.  The book became a recognised text book in English speaking countries and was translated into Japanese and Spanish.

Animal behaviour and welfare: Cats Part 3

CAT BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 3

Cat-human relationships: Behaviour problems

By Dr Clive Dalton


Cat-human bond

• Strength of the bond depends on good early socialisation of the cat by a human.
• This is then transferable to a new human with time.
• A cat may be more bonded to the home and its smells rather than the person - hence the problem of cats going back to an old home. The cat needs time to readjust to new environmental smells so keep it shut in for at least a week.
• Cats will go for walks with owners and hunt. This is easier in rural areas.
• Owners soon learn to interpret certain calls and cat seems to know this.
• It is said that there is a stronger interaction between female humans than males with a cat.
• It is also said that there is stronger interaction between a cat and an adult than with children.
• These interactions are probably just based on food and who in the family feeds the cat regularly.
  

Cat's interaction with humans

• Head butting
• Rubbing cheeks on person
• Kneading or paddling with feet and claws
• Purring
• Snuggling under armpit
• Enjoying their noses and eyes covered by your cupped hand
• If there are a number of cats in the house they need vertical space for a good human/cat relationship and will time-share these areas to avoid conflict..
  

Cat Behaviour "Problems"
Like dogs- cats don't have problems, as they are behaving like cats.

It's the humans who have problems because they forget the domestic contract and the five freedoms, and expect their cats to adapt to what they want. This may not be possible or will take some time to achieve.

1. Poor human-cat bond

• A strong bond is very important to both human and cat partners.
• The bond is formed by good early socialisation and needs constant reinforcing.
• Death, divorce and moving house are the three greatest bond breakers.
• Surveys show that 50% of humans suffer stress on moving and 50% of cats must do also.
• Most upset is resolved in 1-2 weeks but some lasts for 3-4 months.
• Many people have unrealistic expectations of their cat and they have probably have the wrong species as a pet.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Socialise all kittens before they are 2-6 weeks old.
• Keep reinforcing the bond by regular interaction with the cat.
• Rehome the cat with someone with skills to resocialise it, in a different environment.
  

2. Poor socialisation.

• "Nasty cats" (wild, unfriendly and unreliable) for whatever reason have probably not been properly socialised to humans.
• Always start here to work out a cat behaviour problem.
• What happens in the early weeks can have a lifelong effect.
• You can fix some problems later, but it will take you time and it will cost the client money.
• Some humans are better at taming wild cats than others showing a greater empathy and skill.

Possible cures/prevention

• Socialise all kittens before they are 2-6 weeks old.
• Keep reinforcing the bond by regular interaction with the cat.
• Rehome the cat with someone with skills to resocialise it, in a different environment.

3. Infanticide

• This is seen in lions when new males oust old ones and they kill all the cubs to bring females on heat quickly and remove all previous males' genetics at the same time.
• It is known to happen in domestic cats and feral cats where Toms will kill young kittens on their rounds if not protected by the mother or owner.
• Preventing this is a good reason for desexing non-breeding males, and trapping and euthanasing all stray Toms.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Desex all males not needed for breeding.
• Try to trap and euthanase all stray and feral Toms.
  

4. Spraying

• Cats spray to mark their territory, their home range and any new area.
• Once they feel safe, they don't spray.
• They are very sensitive to a "general safe smell" of their environment.
• It's when their lair is under threat that they may start again.
• It happens in both sexed or desexed cats.
  

Possible reasons?

• New adult cat or kitten in the house.
• Change of status in group.
• Visiting Tom cats staking out territory (doormats and car wheels).
• New baby in the house.
• Neighbours have got new cats.
• Bereavement in the house - cat's neglected.
• Redecorate and new smells.
• Plastic bags from outside with alien smells brought indoors.
• Doormat with new footwear smells.
• Installation of cat door - outside becomes inside.
• Visitors car (with open windows).
• Protest spraying - to inform owner cat is unhappy.
• Genetics - oriental breeds.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Find the cause of the anxiety - try to remove it.
• Something needs to change - and you need to find out.
  
• Don't punish the cat - or don't be caught doing it.(Try a water pistol).
• Confine cat to safe home area - and slowly expand it.
• Feed it near where it sprays.
• If "protest spray" - rebuild the bond with the cat.
• Drugs from vet
• Rehome the cat with someone in a different environment.

5. Defaecating

• Cats normally bury their faeces. When they don't it's generally deliberate and is called "maddening".
• It's another way for cats to mark territory.
• It happens when cats are in panic mode - e.g. if locked in the house or may do it on the bed when owners are on holiday.
• Kittens that have been poorly trained by the mother in the nest may develop the habit.
• Punishment is not very effective and it must be instantaneous and from afar, so the cat doesn't associate it with you.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Find the cause of the problem and remove it.
• Never rub the cat's nose in the mess. It achieves nothing.
• Build up animal's self esteem.
• Go back to principles of toilet training.
• Feed the cat where it has defaecated
• Rehome the cat with someone in a different environment.

6. Toilet training

• Kittens are taught by their mothers not to soil their den, so use this principle.
• Take the kitten outside on to soil or litter after feeding to encourage elimination.
• Put newspaper down where you feed the kitten and gradually extend this "feeding territory" so it will not eliminate there.
• Shut off areas where it has started soiling and confine it to approved areas.
• Feed the cat where it has eliminated.
• Never rub its nose in the mess.
• Scratching furniture.
• This is partly claw care and has a trimming action.
• It's also scent marking from glands in paws.
• Used to mark territory.
• Done as a dominance gesture, often in presence of other cats.
• Cats get cunning and will do it on the beds to avoid reprimand.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Always be on the watch - think like a cat.
• Keep cats out when you are out.
• Provide a scratching post in house.
• Put it in front of the damaged object.
• Use a reprimand. It must be instant and from a distance (eg water pistol).
• Hitting the cat won't work - don't try it.
  
• Some smell deterrents may work.
  

7. Attacking other cats

• Can vary from the occasional scrap between cats in a household, to serious attacks on all cats on sight - indoors or outdoors.
• This is a natural way to sort out hierarchy and territory.
• May be caused by poor social contact between cats when young
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Keep aggressive cats inside at night.(This will also benefit wildlife).
• Reintroduce new cats into group gradually in protected cage.
• Distraction - bring new cats together at feeding time.
• Neuter all Toms.
• Your vet may recommend hormone treatment for the aggressor.
• Euthanasia could be a final option in New Zealand, but take veterinary advice on this. You may be legally liable for any damage your cat causes.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

9. Attacking people

• This is a nasty habit and can be scary and dangerous for the uwary (visitors and kids).
  
• This is usually "play aggression" that gets out of hand.
• "Defensive aggression" is caused by poor socialisation.
• It may be encouraged by some family members and then others suffer.
• It may be "fear aggression" so ignore the cat and allow it escape routes.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Know the cat's likes and dislikes - and warn guests.
• Provide toys and encourage the cat to play with them.
• Provide another cat or kitten for it to play with.
• Ignore the cat and don't play with it. Tell others of the plan.
• Experiment with changing diets.
• Don't provide catnip.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.
• Euthanasia may be considered necessary in New Zealand, as you are legally liable for damage. But talk to your veterinarian first.
  

10. Petting and biting syndrome

• It's where the cat allows so many strokes then gives a controlled bite or nip.
• Three strokes then a bite are typical, or not allowing certain body parts to be touched.
• It is often tolerated by the owner so is not cured.
• May get worse with age - could be physical problems.
• Certain parts of the body are more sensitive than others - the back end.
• It often happens in older cats and gets worse with age.
• Some cats will tolerate adults but not children stroking them.
• Can't do much. Leave the cat alone and warn others, especially children.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Recognise the habit and avoid triggering it.
• Warn guests or remove cat when they arrive.
• But it may make the cat more cunning when biting.
• Talk to vet about drugs.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

11.Over-grooming and self mutilation

• Cats regularly groom their flanks or backs when they are confused, or when upset after a threat.
• It seems a displacement behaviour resulting from anxiety or stress.
• It can get out of hand and is difficult to stop.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Check for any problems of the skin.
• Protect the affected skin area - cat will probably shift attention to another.
• Check for diet allergies.
• Find the cause of the distress and remove it.
• Provide toys for stimulation.
• Reduce the number of cats in the house.
• Don't punish the cat for other offences - fix those problems first.
• Treat with drugs for anxiety.
• There may be no cure if it becomes serious, but take veterinary advice before considering euthanasia.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

12. Hair ball

• This is a problem of long-haired breeds that are not regularly groomed.
• This is a very common feature of cats.
• It's not a problem until they come into the house from the garden to be sick.
• Thought to be a means of assisting digestion.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Make sure grooming is adequate and the animal is kept clean.

13.Pica

• This is the eating or sucking of a wide range of non-nutritional items and can cause health problems.
• Sucking and kneading wool items is most common.
• It's thought to be need for dietary fibre, a depraved maternal behaviour snuggling up to dam's belly or natural trait of prey catching/eating.
• It often occurs in cats weaned too young.
• Severe stress can trigger it.
• Poor early socialisation is a likely cause.
• Some breeds are worse than others, eg Siamese.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Provide toys to increase stimulation.
• Check diet for fibre.
• Try aversion tactics - water pistol, or noise.
• Provide favourite fabrics to save others.
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

14. Eating plants

• Thought to be a nutritional deficiency.
• The cat often knocks the plant over and breaks the pot in the process, adding to the problem.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• Remove the problem materials from cat's environment.
• Try different diets
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

15. Thieving

• Cats have an inquisitive nature so this habit can be a self gratifying experience.
• It can be part of pica syndrome - stealing favourite items to eat.
• It's part of the behaviour of bringing kill back to the den for the tribe.
  

Possible cures/prevention

• There is little point in chasing it to get it back - you add to the fun.
• Try to remove the opportunity for the cat to steal things.
• Completely ignore it when it brings items home
• Rehome the cat with someone with cat skills, in a different environment.

Cats in modern society - the 5th freedom

• Changes are coming in man's relationship with the domestic cat in New Zealand.
• We have a love/hate relationship with cats as we do with dogs, but cats are inherent hunters and it's now being realised the effect their hunting as on our endangered native wildlife - as it has done in Australia.
• The average age of a cat in modern society is 3.5 years. Euthanasia is the main cause of death. Thousands of kittens are euthanased each year.
• Just about every family in NZ has a pet dog or cat and many have both. Cats are more popular than dogs and are easier to get and dispose of (legally or illegally).
• Hundreds of thousands of cats are euthanased each year and Christmas is the peak time for this being the peak kitten season.
• The SPCA struggle to get the message across about desexing and "pets are not just for Christmas".
• There are now plenty of data now to show how much wildlife the average domestic "moggy" cleans up in a year. It is in the region of 20 birds/year.
• DOC in New Zealand are having a big campaign against the cat.
• Some people are very upset about this, blaming owners for irresponsible cat care.
• There is no welfare code for cats but this will be done sometime.
• Australia has brought in rules against cats in some areas where they must now be confined.
  
• "Keep your cat inside at night" will have to be the catch cry for future.
• New Zealand will have to face this in future as public concern and sympathy changes towards our native fauna - the impact of TV is massive. There are changes ahead for the Kiwi moggy with cat-free areas being accepted.
• Desexing feral cats releasing them back into the environment is a crazy idea.
  

Animal behaviour and welfare: Dogs Part 1

DOG BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 1

Origins: Dogs and Society

By Dr Clive Dalton

Origins

• The dog's ancestors evolved 35 million years ago and the modern dog has been traced using DNA in hair samples to a small group of female wolves living in East Asia some 15,000 years ago.
  
• Man developed much later - some 3.5 million years ago and the dog was first on the domestication list. A recent hypothesis is that man and dog evolved together for long periods with man losing his sense of smell as he relied more on the dog.

The wolf pack

• The wolf is a pack animal that hunts and lives communally and wolves have a very clear social hierarchy which was very similar to the human family. So wolves easily slotted into the early human family lifestyle.
• The wolf pack is led by an alpha male and alpha female (order can reverse), and there are constant challenges going on in the pack such as these:
• Young males are always fancying the top job.
• Young males start to work their way up the order to the top.
• Young males dominate young females.
• Changes in order when new adolescents come into family.
• Changes when old members leave or die.
• Females protecting their young.
• Females keeping the top male to herself.

Dog's benefits to early man
It's easy to imagine a stray wolf cub brought home and becoming a family pet followed by breeding and selection for many traits useful to man. For example the domesticated wolf could provide:

• Companionship and entertainment - a play mate for the children.Protection - it would warn of strangers. Selection for barking would take place.
• Hunting - the wolf would assist in the chase, especially appreciated by older humans as their speed was reduced by infirmity.
• Warmth at nights - Eskimos talk of a 2- of 3-dog night.
• Work and power - dogs are willing workers and can carry and pull loads.
• Effluent disposal - the early dog would also keep the house area clean, and eat human effluent.
• Meat and skins when it was slaughtered.
  

Recent DNA analysis

With recent DNA analysis, some scientists make the point that the relationship between humans and dogs makes no evolutionary sense. The DNA analysis now disproves the speculation about how man domesticated the wolf, and that the dog's hunting and herding instincts developed by selection long after domestication.

Then it's now accepted that today's wild dogs did not evolve from the wolf, as they are more social than wolves which were always loners to protect their territories to maintain a food supply. Modern wild dogs don't have the clear hierarchy seen in wolf packs and are much more social with a variety of dominance and submissive relationships. Neither do they have a strict territory like wolves do.

Impact of man on the dog

• Consider the different types of dog we have today. There over 200 breeds ranging in weight from less than 1kg to about 100kg.
  
• The question to consider is - have we've made genetic progress as perhaps some of these dogs (which many veterinarians consider have genetic defects) should have been euthanased and not saved for future breeding, or to form a new breed?
• There is big money to be made if you breed a new genotype - and you have exclusive rights to it. You can use cloning to multiply it so it's maybe time to ask "should there be laws against further genetic change in a "wrong" direction?
  
• Who's opinions do we accept and who needs to take control over what is done.
  

Dog's benefits to modern man

This list seems to get longer each year as people find new challenges for dogs and train them to achieve amazing feats well beyond the ability of man. Here are some examples:

• Farm working dogs handling livestock of a wide range of species. Without them, much land could not be farmed - e.g. New Zealand hill country.
• Used by conservationists to find pest species and feral animals. They can be trained to be very host specific so can find the species being protected for monitoring.
• Trained to locate game, and retrieve it when shot.
• Trained as guards to live with livestock and protect them from predators and thieves.
• Trained as "seeing-eye" dogs for the blind.

• Dogs guarding property that they see as their territory.
• Search and rescue dogs to find people in avalanches and earthquakes.
• To help people with impaired hearing.
• Helping the disabled by pulling wheelchairs and doing simple chores.
• Police dogs used to search for drugs and to find, attack and hold offenders.
• To find people on land and across water –e.g. the Bloodhound and Newfoundland respectively.
• Customs and Biosecurity dogs used to find drugs, fruit, etc.
• Used to find truffles buried under the ground in orchards - traditionally done by pigs.
• Trained to find the sites of old chemical dumps.
• Military dogs to locate landmines and explosives as well as the enemy and snipers.
• Trained to use their acute sense of smell to detect cancer cells and chemicals (ketones) from the nose of patients pre-seizure.
• Companions to young and old.

The dog in modern society

• After seeing the good things dogs do for man, it's important to consider the "problems" they cause in our sophisticated modern (urban) society.
  
• But if you ask an Animal Control Officer about "dog problems" they'll remind you that they rarely see dog problems, - they deal instead with "people problems" as dog owners are the cause.
  

Examples of "dog problems" as man sees them

These dogs bark all day at anything passing by, as their human pack leaders (owners) are at work. From their viewpoint - they're doing a great job, and they also alert all the other dogs in the street to warn them of potential threats.

These dogs bark during the night too to warn their pack leaders of threats. But the owners are either deaf or don't care about neighbours and never stop them barking. The owners originally got two pups to be company for each other when they were out at work - so now they are two bored adult dogs instead of one - along with very annoyed neighbours who can do little about the problem under the law.

• Dogs frightening people -rushing at people and biting them.
• Damage to property when their owners are out at work.
• Barking and annoying neighbours when their owners are away.
• Wandering. Dogs that run away and cause annoyance as they move around.
• Feral dogs living in town and country and threatening people, their pets and livestock.
• Harassing, mauling and killing livestock.
• Reproduction. Producing endless unwanted puppies that are dumped or handed to SPCAs to dispose of.
• Obesity. Grossly overfat dogs and dogs with other dietary problems.
  
• Confusion. Dogs are confused by their owners. It appears as if the dogs think they are human and the humans think they are dogs!
• Hierarchy confusion. The dog is confused about where it stands in the household as the rules are not consistent.
• Faeces in public places which other dogs then add to.
• Territorial aggression - where dogs attack to protect their home range.
• Genetic aggression - dogs bred for aggression that when stimulated savage anything they see as a threat - people, other dogs and livestock.
• Over-stimulated scatty dogs that annoy owners and visitors and can become aggressive.
• Mutilation required by breed standards e.g. tail and ear docking. Also "debarking" dogs by veterinarians for owners who cannot find another solution to their persistent barking dog.
• Problems caused by breed standards that require veterinary treatment - jaws, teeth and birth problems.
• Sexual habits - leg mounting and sniffing people.
• Dogs in the human pack.

Dogs are pack animals
Dogs prefer to live with dogs which is often a surprise to humans! Here are some important points to remember:

• Dogs like clear simple rules that are consistent.
• Dogs understand dogs! Humans can be very confusing.
• Dogs interpret human behaviour in a canine way and humans interpret dog behaviour in a human way.

The human pack from a dog's viewpoint

• Humans change clothes every day.
• Humans are not consistent in the way they smell.
• Humans change moods regularly.
• Humans are inconsistent in what they do each day.
• Different members of the human pack often have different rules.
• Humans can love you one moment and hate you the next.
  
• Humans make a fuss of you to show their love, and then go away and leave you.
• They die, split up and move house and cause confusion. (These are the three greatest man-dog bond breakers.
  

So when human shows inconsistency, then a confused dog is tempted to take the lead to sort things out and regain consistency.