No abstract

Early cow-calf separation prevents much of cows' natural maternal behaviour. Early separation is thought to prevent the development of a cow-calf bond. To assess this bond, we measured motivation of dairy cows to reunite with their calf. To vary the degree of bonding, some cows were allowed continued contact with their calf and others were separated from their calf soon after birth, following standard practice on most farms. Among cows allowed continued contact, some were able to suckle their calf and others were prevented from suckling (by covering the cow's udder with an udder net). Cows were habituated to the weighted-gate apparatus before calving by daily training with the (un-weighted) gate. After calving, cow willingness to use the gate was assessed by determining if she would push open the gate to access to her own calf. Testing occurred once daily, with weight on the gate gradually increased. After passing through the gate, the dam's calf-directed behaviour was recorded. Suckled cows pushed a greater maximum weight (45.8 ± 7.8 kg) than separated cows (21.6 ± 6.7 kg) and non-suckled cows (24.3 ± 4.5 kg), with no differences between separated and non-suckled cows. Once reunited, latency to make nose contact and duration of licking did not differ between treatments. We conclude that motivation for calf contact is greater for cows that are suckled. Maternal behaviour of cows can be expressed through licking, nursing, attentiveness and proximity towards the young, and protecting it from potential threats 1,2. On most dairy farms the cow's ability to express maternal behaviour is limited, as standard practice is to remove the calf within a few hours after birth 3 , but cows still perform maternal behaviour when given the opportunity 2,4,5. To date no work has assessed to what extent dairy cows are still motivated to reunite and interact with their young. An essential component of maternal behaviour is nursing the calf 1 , but there is some evidence that the mother-young bond may establish in the absence of suckling: cow-calf pairs spent similar time in proximity regardless of the cows' ability to suckle her calf 6. It is unknown to what extent the maternal motivation to reunite with the calf is affected by suckling. Motivation tests can be used to evaluate the value animals attribute to an experience or resource 7. Once an animal has learned to perform a task, the effort (price) for each access can be increased 8,9. Pushing a weighted door to gain access to a reward is one method to assess motivation 10,11. This technique has been used to assess the importance of a nest box in chickens 12 , a water bath in farmed mink 13 , pasture access 14 and access to an automated brush 15 in dairy cattle. The more weight an animal pushes, the stronger the motivation to access that particular resource 16. The aim of this study was to assess the motivation of dairy cows with different levels of cow-calf contact to reunite with their calf. We hypothesised that cows routinely kept with their calf would be more motivated than co...

No abstract

Prolonged cow-calf contact (CCC) could potentially improve dairy calf welfare. However, it is currently unknown how different types of CCC affect animals' biological functions. We evaluated health and performance parameters of dairy calves and their dams, where calves: (i) had no contact with their dam (NC), in which the calf was removed from the dam directly after birth (n = 10); (ii) were allowed to have partial contact (PC) with their dam, in which the calf was housed in a calf pen adjacent to the cow area allowing physical contact on the initiative of the dam but no suckling (n = 18); (iii) were allowed to have full contact (FC) with their dam, including suckling, in which calves were housed together with their dams in a free-stall barn (n = 20). Throughout the first 7 weeks postpartum, data were collected on the health status, fecal microbiota, hematological profile, immune and hormonal parameters, and growth rates of calves, and on the health status, metabolic responses, and performance of dams. Overall, FC calves had more health issues (P = 0.02) and a tendency for higher antibiotic usage (P = 0.07) than NC calves. Additionally, FC calves showed elevated levels of erythrocytes, hematocrit, hemoglobin, and leukocytes on day 49 compared to NC calves (P < 0.001). Calf fecal microbiota changed over time, and we found preliminary evidence that fecal microbiota is affected by the type of CCC, as reflected by differences in relative abundances of taxa including Lactobacillus in FC calves compared to NC and PC calves except on days 7 and 66. The FC calves had a greater average daily gain in body weight than NC and PC calves (P = 0.002). Cow health was not affected by the type of CCC, although in the first 7 weeks of lactation FC cows had a lower machine-gained milk yield accompanied by a lower fat percentage than NC and PC cows (P < 0.001). These results indicate that full contact posed a challenge for calf health, presumably because the housing conditions of FC calves in this experimental context were suboptimal. Secondly, ad libitum suckling leads to higher weight gains and negatively affected milk fat content besides machine-gained yields. More research into strategies to improve cow-calf housing and management in CCC systems is warranted.