Associations of behavior-based measurements and clinical disease in preweaned, group-housed dairy calves

Abstract

Producers report bovine respiratory disease and neonatal calf diarrhea as the 2 most common diseases in preweaned calves, both of which can affect calf performance and welfare. Housing calves in groups during the preweaning period has increased in popularity and has the potential to improve calf welfare, but only if producers can detect and treat disease efficiently. A health-screening tool is needed that allows producers to identify suspect animals but minimize the time spent examining healthy animals. The objective of this study was to determine if disease in preweaned, group-housed dairy calves was associated with behavioral measures of illness. This cross-sectional study included the evaluation of preweaned, group-housed calves (n=206) on 4 farms in Wisconsin, United States. Farm visits included the scoring of key behaviors (abnormal posture when lying or standing, isolation from the group, lethargy, and 2 approach tests that tested the willingness of calves to approach a stationary person) that were hypothesized to be components of sickness behavior. Following the behavior scoring, calves underwent an individual health assessment for bovine respiratory disease, neonatal calf diarrhea, and umbilical infections. Each behavior category was scored as normal (0 points) or abnormal (1 point), and then categories were summed to obtain a total behavior score for each calf. Behavior scores ranged from 0 (normal) to 5 (severely abnormal). A total behavior score of 3 or greater was considered positive for disease. The outcome of a positive or negative test on the behavior score were analyzed using PROC LOGISTIC (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) and the model controlled for calf age and farm. Bovine respiratory disease was significantly associated with a behavior score of 3 or greater. The use of a behavior score shows promise as a screening tool for disease in preweaned calves.

Early clinical predictors of diarrhea in the first fifteen days in dairy calves and their relationship with passive transfer status

“…The FTPI was 29.26% on the 1 st and 3 rd day, when IgG < 10 g/L is taken as a criterion. While this ratio is higher than in some studies (9,20), it agrees with the FTPI incidence reported in others (3,8,34). The high FTPI ratio may be due to the insufficient amount of colostrum given (2.5 liters, 2 times per day for the first 3 days).…”

“…Comparing non diarrheic calves with the diarrheic calves, nasal discharge and lethargy were observed more frequently the day before diarrhea. Observation of more lethargy may be considered a sign of the onset of the disease (8). More nasal discharge may be due to the stimulation of the parasympathetic nerves (4).…”

Automated Feeding Behaviors Associated with Subclinical Respiratory Disease in Preweaned Dairy Calves

“…Early disease detection and intervention likely ameliorates the negative consequences of BRD [ 2 ]. However, producers and veterinarians struggle to identify all calves with BRD [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Detecting sick calves in group housing is particularly challenging, due to the difficulty of observing individual animals and our limited knowledge of how sick calves behave in a social environment.…”

Short communication: Automated detection of behavioral changes from respiratory disease in pre-weaned calves

“…In diseased animals, behaviors that are associated with health benefits, such as play and exploratory behavior (Jensen et al, 1998;Cramer and Stanton, 2015;Cramer et al, 2016), are typically the first to decline, as sick animals divert resources from less critical functions to those that are essential for life (Weary et al, 2009). Play and exploratory behavior were not specifically measured in the current study; however, it is likely that the reduction in step activity is a result of diseased calves having less motivation to express play and exploratory behaviors (de Passillé et al, 2010).…”