Effects of group size on the behaviour, heart rate, immunity, and growth of Holstein dairy calves

Lv, Jing; Zhao, Xunwu; Su, Hang; Wang, Zhipeng; Wang, Chao; Li, Jianhong; Li, Xiang; Zhang, Runxiang; Bao, Jun

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105378

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Calves have been shown to change their behaviour to accommodate mates ( 40 ) and to display more natural behaviour ( 53 , 54 ) when they are with their peers. There is currently, a lot of interest in taking social housing for calves a step further by housing them in group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare implications on management strategies for rearing dairy calves: A systematic review. Part 2 – Social management

et al. 2023

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IntroductionRaising a healthy calf up to puberty is essential for optimal farm performance. It is therefore, it is necessary to promote animal welfare from the three spheres during this short period. Social management has been postulated as essential in lowering stress and consequently improving calf welfare during this period. Only the health sphere has been studied for a long time, but more recent studies have recently promoted positive experiences and emotional states from affective states or cognitive judgment and natural living spheres. A systematic review of different management strategies in rearing dairy calves according to the three spheres of animal welfare has been conducted using an electronic search strategy.MethodsThe analysis and extraction of information from the studies were performed according to a protocol. From 1,783 publications screened, only 351 met the inclusion criteria.ResultsThe publications identified in the search can be divided into two main groups, feeding and social management, based on the main topic of the publication. This review provides an overview of social management, understood as the calf’s interaction with others around it.DiscussionPrimary social management issues that emerged were social housing with congeners, separation from the mother and human-animal interaction, distributed in the three broad spheres of animal welfare. The review highlights unresolved questions about how social management practices affect the three spheres of animal welfare at this life stage and the need to standardize good socialization practices for this stage. In conclusion, all the information shows that social housing has improved animal welfare from affective states, cognitive judgment, and natural living spheres. However, gaps in research were identified in relation to the optimal time to separate the calf from the mother, the optimal time to group with conspecifics after birth and group size. Further research on positive welfare through socialization are needed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare implications on management strategies for rearing dairy calves: A systematic review. Part 2 – Social management

et al. 2023

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“…Shaving the application site and using ultrasound gel can be used to facilitate electrode contact with the thorax [ 109 ]. The HRM usually only stays fitted in the animal during a certain phase of the trial period, around 15 to 60 min [ 81 , 109 , 118 , 119 ], in order to record the intended measurement interval, from which data can be directly obtained (Bluetooth [ 118 ]) or downloaded after to a computer [ 109 ]. Although, according to Stewart et al [ 120 ], HRMs are susceptible to displacement and damage and may change the calf’s normal behaviour, thus, influencing the results.…”

Section: Technological Applications To Monitor Calves’ Health and Wel...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With HRM (Polar Equine RS800CX Science, Polar Electro UK Ltd., Heathcote Way, Warwick, UK), Clapp et al [ 123 ] observed a significant negative correlation between log RMSSD and time after birth, the calf spent with the mother before separation; on the day of separation: R 2 = −0.68, p = 0.03 and 3 days after separation R 2 = −0.35, p = 0.045. Lv et al [ 118 ] observed an effect of group size on calves’ heart rate, associated with an increase in stress from competition in larger groups. Furthermore, an increase in heart rate ( p < 0.01) was associated with negative emotions upon milk deprivation in calves at one month of age [ 124 ].…”

Section: Technological Applications To Monitor Calves’ Health and Wel...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Literature Review on Technological Applications to Monitor and Evaluate Calves’ Health and Welfare

Silva

Conceição

Pereira

et al. 2023

Animals

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Precision livestock farming (PLF) research is rapidly increasing and has improved farmers’ quality of life, animal welfare, and production efficiency. PLF research in dairy calves is still relatively recent but has grown in the last few years. Automatic milk feeding systems (AMFS) and 3D accelerometers have been the most extensively used technologies in dairy calves. However, other technologies have been emerging in dairy calves’ research, such as infrared thermography (IRT), 3D cameras, ruminal bolus, and sound analysis systems, which have not been properly validated and reviewed in the scientific literature. Thus, with this review, we aimed to analyse the state-of-the-art of technological applications in calves, focusing on dairy calves. Most of the research is focused on technology to detect and predict calves’ health problems and monitor pain indicators. Feeding and lying behaviours have sometimes been associated with health and welfare levels. However, a consensus opinion is still unclear since other factors, such as milk allowance, can affect these behaviours differently. Research that employed a multi-technology approach showed better results than research focusing on only a single technique. Integrating and automating different technologies with machine learning algorithms can offer more scientific knowledge and potentially help the farmers improve calves’ health, performance, and welfare, if commercial applications are available, which, from the authors’ knowledge, are not at the moment.

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“…However, there are considerable benefits related to calf performance and social development associated with social housing. Calves reared with social contact, whether housed in pairs or larger groups, display more social behaviors, such as allogrooming and locomotor play following grouping [ 6 , 7 ], compared to calves reared individually. Additionally, calves reared with social contact experience performance benefits including greater solid feed intake during the pre-weaning period [ 8 , 9 , 10 ] and greater body weights following weaning [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Social Housing on Dairy Calf Social Bonding

Lindner

Gingerich

Burke

et al. 2022

Animals

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Social housing for dairy calves has a range of benefits for social development, yet there is limited understanding of how social bonds form early in life. We characterized effects of early life social contact on the development of social preference for calves varying in familiarity. A total of 40 calves were tested in a social preference test at 4 weeks of age to assess the formation of social bonds and preference for their peers. Within an open-field social preference test, focal calves were presented with two stimulus calves, one ‘more familiar’ and one ‘less familiar’. We found that pair-housed calves spent more time in close proximity with either stimulus calf and had a greater preference for their pen-mate, compared to another calf reared within visual contact. Individually housed calves exhibited no preference for calves reared within visual but not physical contact compared to calves that were completely unfamiliar. Of the calves that approached both stimulus calves, individually housed calves that approached the ‘less familiar’ calf first spent less time near the ‘more familiar’ calf, whereas behavior of pair-housed calves was not affected by the first calf approached. These results suggest that physical contact is necessary for the development of social bonds in young dairy calves, and early life social housing may support the development of normal social behavior in dairy cattle.

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Effects of group size on the behaviour, heart rate, immunity, and growth of Holstein dairy calves

Cited by 8 publications

References 53 publications

Welfare implications on management strategies for rearing dairy calves: A systematic review. Part 2 – Social management

Welfare implications on management strategies for rearing dairy calves: A systematic review. Part 2 – Social management

Literature Review on Technological Applications to Monitor and Evaluate Calves’ Health and Welfare

Effects of Social Housing on Dairy Calf Social Bonding

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