Effects of Pair Versus Individual Housing on Performance, Health, and Behavior of Dairy Calves

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of pair versus individual housing on performance, health, and behavior of dairy calves. Thirty female Holstein dairy calves were assigned to individual (n = 10) or pair housing (n = 10 pairs). The results showed that both treatments had a similar starter intake and average daily gain (ADG) during the preweaning period. During weaning and postweaning periods, paired calves had a higher starter intake, and the ADG of paired calves continued to increase but calves housed individually experienced a growth check. Paired calves showed higher diarrhea frequency only in week three. The results on behavior showed that feeding, chewing and ruminating time increased, and self-grooming time decreased with age during weaning and postweaning periods, and paired calves spent less time feeding, standing and self-grooming but more time lying during this time. After mixing, feeding, and chewing and ruminating time continued to rise, and self-grooming time continued to decline for both treatments. All calves spent less time standing and non-nutritive manipulation after mixing, and previously individually housed calves tended to increase non-nutritive manipulation. These results showed that pair housing improved growth during weaning and postweaning periods and that calves altered their behavior at different phases. Less social contact may lead to more non-nutritive manipulation.

The effect of pair housing on dairy calf health, performance, and behavior

“…Our finding that the occurrence of diarrhea did not differ significantly between INDI and PH calves is consistent with 4 other studies (Chua et al, 2002;Jensen and Larsen, 2014;Pempek et al, 2016;Bolt et al, 2017) and partially in contrast with Liu et al (2019), who found an increase in the occurrence of diarrhea in pair-housed calves during wk 3. As discussed by the authors of the latter study, there is not enough evidence to support a diarrhea-increasing effect of pair housing, and thus the higher incidence of diarrhea in pair housing during wk 3 was likely due to low immunity to infection of calves aged from 2 to 4 wk and individual differences (Liu et al, 2019). Our finding, that diarrhea occurred more often in calves entering the experiment at earlier ages agrees with this well-established fact found in previous studies (Uetake, 2013;Cho and Yoon, 2014).…”

“…We failed to find a significant difference in solid feed intake in the INDI and PH calves. This result is in accordance with some studies (Chua et al, 2002;Pempek et al, 2013;Bolt et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2019), but in contrast with others (De Paula Vieira et al, 2010;Costa et al, 2015;Jensen et al, 2015;Pempek et al, 2016;Whalin et al, 2018) that found increased solid feed intake in pair-housed calves. We also failed to find a significant difference in growth of INDI and PH calves.…”

“…We also failed to find a significant difference in growth of INDI and PH calves. Our finding is consistent with the results from 6 studies (Chua et al, 2002;Hänninen et al, 2005;De Paula Vieira et al, 2010;Bolt et al, 2017;Whalin et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2019), but in contradiction with others (Costa et al, 2015;Jensen et al, 2015;Pempek et al, 2016) that found improved growth in pair-housed calves. It is not clear why some studies found improved solid feed intake or growth and some did not.…”

“…The 2 most important health problems in dairy calves are diarrhea and respiratory diseases (Calderón-Amor and Gallo, 2020). To date, 5 studies have compared the occurrence of diarrhea (Chua et al, 2002;Jensen and Larsen, 2014;Pempek et al, 2016;Bolt et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2019), and 2 studies have focused on respira-tory problems in individually-versus pair-housed calves (Jensen and Larsen, 2014;Bolt et al, 2017).…”

“…Some studies have found improved solid feed or milk intake in pair-housed calves (De Paula Vieira et al, 2010;Costa et al, 2015;Jensen et al, 2015;Pempek et al, 2016;Whalin et al, 2018), but others have found no improvement (Chua et al, 2002;De Paula Vieira et al, 2010;Pempek et al, 2013;Bolt et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2019). Several investigations have documented improved growth in pair-housed calves (Costa et al, 2015;Jensen et al, 2015;Pempek et al, 2016), but many others were unable to find a positive effect (Chua et al, 2002;Hänninen et al, 2005;De Paula Vieira et al, 2010;Bolt et al, 2017;Whalin et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2019). Further research on preweaning feed intake and growth of individually and pair-housed calves is needed because different aspects of calf body growth (e.g., daily gain, hip height) affect various facets of future dairy cow performance, such as milk yield and longevity (Van De Stroet et al, 2016).…”