The effect of nursing on the cow–calf bond

Abstract

a b s t r a c tDairy calves are often separated from the cow soon after birth and prevented from nursing, but little is known about the effects of nursing on the development of the cow-calf bond. This study evaluated the effect of nursing on affiliative behaviours between the dam and her calf including allogrooming, proximity and latency to reunite after a period of separation. Holstein cow-calf pairs were randomly allocated to three treatments differing only in nutritional dependency on the dam: milk feeder (n = 10 pairs), combined (n = 10 pairs) or nursing (n = 10 pairs). Milk feeder calves could feed ad libitum from an automated milk-feeder, combined calves could suckle from their dams at night and could feed ad libitum from an automated milk feeder and nursing calves could suckle from their dams at night. Cows and calves were kept together during the night (between 20:00 h and 08:00 h) and were housed adjacent to each other during the day (between 08:00 h and 20:00 h). Direct live observations were performed 2 h following the opening of the gate that allowed calves to mix with cows at night. All pairs spent more time (% of observations) allogrooming each other (i.e. own cow/calf) than they did grooming other cows and calves within the same group (10 ± 0.8% vs. 0.4 ± 0.7%, t 29 = 168.8, P < 0.001). The time cow-calf pairs spent allogrooming did not vary with treatment; 10.0 ± 0.8%, F 2, 27 = 0.4, P = 0.696). Similarly, time spent in close proximity without nursing did not differ among treatments; 31 ± 2.6%, F 2, 27 = 0.6, P = 0.543). The percentage of occasions a pair did not reunite (i.e. not observed within 1 m of each other within 3 min) was 23% for the milk feeder pairs, 38% for the combined pairs and 32% for the nursing pairs ( 2 = 3.9, P = 0.415). Nevertheless suckling from another cow than own dam was observed at least once by 19 of the 20 calves that were allowed to suckle. Latency to reunite (among pairs that did so within 180 s) was highest for the combined pairs and tended to be lower for milk feeder and nursing calves; 52.5 ± 16.0, 23.3 ± 8.3 and 12.9 ± 5.8; F 2, 24 = 3.1, P = 0.062). These results indicate that dam and calf form a bond independent of nursing.

Characterizing grooming behavior patterns and the influence of brush access on the behavior of group-housed dairy calves

“…Brush use has been suggested to potentially be a redirected behavior associated with maternal grooming and care in both cows and calves (Zobel et al, 2017). Reports (Johnsen et al, 2015). These results suggest that the amount of time a calf would receive maternal grooming may be similar to time spent using a rotating brush.…”

Invited review: Cessation of lactation: Effects on animal welfare

“…Abrupt cessation of lactation and dramatically increased milk production aside, arguably the biggest deviation of all in terms of how modern dairy practices have altered the lactation cycle from its natural state is the separation of the dam and offspring. Consumer concern over this practice is growing (Ventura et al, 2013) and is in turn motivating research (e.g., Johnsen et al, 2015). It is quite possible that this desire to explore how the early parts of lactation are handled will affect how the entire lactation, including its cessation, is managed.…”

Symposium review: Considerations for the future of dairy cattle housing: An animal welfare perspective

“…More research is required to optimize cow-calf housing systems, particularly toward the development of best practices to mitigate distress responses to eventual separation. Specifically, further investigation is needed into fence-line weaning systems (Price et al, 2003;Stěhulová et al, 2008), uddernets (Johnsen et al, 2015a,b), temporary separation (Pérez et al, 2017), and the provision of additional milk sources during the dam-rearing phase (Johnsen et al, 2015b).…”