The Health and Behavioural Effects of Individual versus Pair Housing of Calves at Different Ages on a UK Commercial Dairy Farm

Abstract

Housing management of dairy calves is one of the factors that contributes to a successful rearing outcome. Individual housing of pre-weaned calves is thought to provide enhanced biosecurity and easier monitoring of the individual, and so remains prevalent in the UK. Behavioural studies have, however, found that pair housing is important for social learning, with positive impacts on health and welfare. This study utilised a single UK commercial dairy farm to establish if individual housing, pair housing from birth, or pair housing from three weeks of age affected health and behavioural parameters. Calves were housed in these allocated groups from birth to eight weeks of age, when they were moved into group pens of five calves for weaning at 10 weeks of age. All management routines other than the housing group were the same for enrolled calves. One hundred Holstein calves were recruited over a six-month period, and systematically allocated to a housing group. Weekly visits were conducted up to 10 weeks of age (weaning) for each calf, with weight, solid feed intake, and presence of clinical disease measured. In addition, a novel object approach test was carried out at six weeks, and a thoracic ultrasound was performed at seven weeks. Housing group had no effect on the average daily liveweight gain (ADLG) (p = 0.74), with an average of 0.66 kg/day over the pre-weaning period. However, on group housing at 8–10 weeks of age, there was a numerical increase in ADLG in the pair housed calves compared to the individually housed calves over the weaning period. Housing group had no significant effect on disease prevalence (p = 0.98) or the time taken to approach the novel object (p = 0.29). However, pair housed calves had increased mean total solid feed intakes from weeks 2–8 (p = 0.011), with 6.2 ± 0.67 kg (standard error of the mean - SEM), 12.7 ± 0.73 kg and 13.6 ± 0.70 kg ingested by individually housed, pair housed from birth and pair housed from three weeks of age, respectively. The overall findings of this study indicate that within a UK commercial dairy management system, there is no detrimental effect of housing calves within pairs (either from birth or three weeks of age) compared to individual housing.

Welfare of calves

“…With regard to influence of age at grouping on concentrate intake, Costa et al (2015) found that calves paired at 6 days of age consumed more concentrate (in the period from 3 to 10 weeks) than calves paired at the age of 6 weeks and individually housed, which suggests that early social housing, and thus early social facilitation of concentrate intake, is important for later concentrate intake. Mahendran et al (2021) saw a higher concentrate intake in paired calves compared with individually housed animals, but no difference between calves paired days after birth and paired at 21 days old. These results are in line with outcomes from a study that found no difference in concentrate intake (measured at 3-7 weeks) between calves paired within 3 days of birth and at 14 days old (Jensen and Larsen, 2014), or between calves paired within 3 days of birth and at 21 days old .…”

“…Mahendran et al. ( 2021 ) saw a higher concentrate intake in paired calves compared with individually housed animals, but no difference between calves paired days after birth and paired at 21 days old. These results are in line with outcomes from a study that found no difference in concentrate intake (measured at 3–7 weeks) between calves paired within 3 days of birth and at 14 days old (Jensen and Larsen, 2014 ), or between calves paired within 3 days of birth and at 21 days old (Duve and Jensen, 2012 ).…”

Early-life contact with non-maternal adult cows and a pasture-based rearing environment influence behavioural responses of dairy heifers to novelty

“…In contrast with previous studies, only seven of the 49 18 month old experimental heifers approached and interacted with the novel object in the present study. Wagner et al ( 2015 ) observed up to 24 of their 26 post-partum experimental animals approaching a traffic cone in the indoor walkway between the milking parlour and their home barn, for instance, while at the other end of the age spectrum an umbrella at the side of their outdoor rearing pens was approached by 43 out of 58 six week old calves studied by Mahendran et al ( 2021 ). While in the present study each experimental treatment comprised a variety of dairy breeds, Mahendran et al ( 2021 ) recruited only Holsteins and Wagner et al ( 2015 ) studied both German Holsteins and German Red Pieds, with no reports of breed differences in behaviour in the latter study.…”

Historical Evolution of Cattle Management and Herd Health of Dairy Farms in OECD Countries

“…Pairing housing systems, being the current recommended practice for rearing, improves calves’ health and welfare [ 82 , 85 ]. These systems increase positive social behavior, promoting the intake of solid feed, higher average daily gain, and reducing fearfulness of animals [ 86 , 87 ]. Rearing calves even in groups from a very young age is now being considered, since this practice allows for less labor, distress, and the adoption of new feeding technologies [ 88 ].…”