Individuals housed under stressful conditions may start performing specific behaviour patterns in order to control mental and physical stability and reach homeostasis. These behaviours are typically shown by individuals housed in unsuitable environments and may be a substitute for behaviours the animal is strongly motivated but hindered to perform. 

Observations of abnormal behaviours were performed in order to investigate the individual cows’ coping behaviours as a gradient of personality. Observations were performed in home pen before, after and in between milkings. The method used was a scan-sampling method on individual level with 1 minute intervals, recording the number of times an animal was observed performing an abnormal behaviour during the 45 minute period (Table 3).