Effect of group size on behavior, health, production, and welfare of veal calves1,2

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of group size on behavior, growth, health, and welfare of veal calves. Holstein-Friesian bull calves (n=168; 44±3 d of age) were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 treatments of group housing with 2, 4, or 8 calves per pen. The pens used for housing were 3 by 1.20 m (2 calves per pen), 3 by 2.40 m (4 calves per pen), and 3 by 4.80 m (8 calves per pen), supplying a total pen space allowance of 1.82 m2/calf, regardless of pen size. Behavior was recorded from video data throughout the day from 0700 to 1900 h during a single day each month for 5 mo using scan sampling every 5 min within 30-min observation sessions. On d 0, 1, 5, 14, 42, and 70 after grouping, continuous focal sampling around feeding time (30-min intervals before, during, and after feeding) focused on oral and aggressive behaviors. Calves housed in large groups (4 or 8 calves per pen) showed more (P≤0.001) conspecific contact, walking, and standing and less (P<0.001) manipulation of objects, self-licking, and lying when compared to calves housed in small groups (2 calves per pen). Group size had no effect on play behavior (P=0.11) throughout the experiment. During feeding times group size had no (P≥0.07) effect on any behavioral patterns except for duration of conspecific contact (P<0.01). Aggression at feeding time was not (P>0.23) affected by treatment. Group size treatments were similar for hip height change (P=0.41) and heart girth change (P=0.18) over the duration of the experiment; however, both hip height and heart girth increased (P=0.001) with calf age. During mo 1, calves in groups of 8 or 4 coughed more than calves in groups of 2 whereas calves in groups of 8 coughed more than calves in groups of 4 or 2 in mo 2 (treatment×month, P=0.03). Furthermore, during mo 4, calves in groups of 8 had less nasal discharge than calves in groups of 2 or 4 (treatment×month, P=0.02). Ocular discharge, ears, and fecal scores did not differ (P≥0.05) among treatments. Plasma cortisol was not (P≥0.37) affected by group size. The number of veal calves in a group when given the same space did not affect production and physiological indicators of welfare but had a transient effect on health during the 5-mo finishing period. If increased play and social contact and decreased aggression are considered as primary indicators of welfare, group size did not alter calf welfare.

Factors associated with high antimicrobial use in young calves on Dutch dairy farms: A case-control study

“…Svensson and Liberg (2006) investigated the effect of group size in Swedish dairy calves housed in pens with automatic milk feeders and found that calves housed in pens with 12 to 18 calves had a higher incidence of respiratory illness than calves housed in pens with 6 to 9 calves. Comparable results were found in veal calves by Abdelfattah et al (2013). The maximum number of calves housed in 1 group was not associated with the AMU in our study.…”

Effect of group size and maize silage dietary levels on behaviour, health, carcass and meat quality of Mediterranean buffaloes

“…Nevertheless, in this study group size did not display any significant effect on these variables (P > 0.05), as well as on the number of agonistic interactions (P > 0.05). Also other authors (Abdelfattah et al, 2013) failed to find any differences in weight gain between groups of calves reared at different group sizes. Napolitano et al (2004) observed a reduction of agonistic interactions as the space allowance per calf increased, which may indicate that space is the major factor influencing the occurrence of agonistic behaviour in calves (Bøe and Faerevik, 2003).…”

“…In addition, the number of animals in the group may affect the social behaviour of young cattle (Estevez et al, 2007). Although several investigations have evaluated the influence of social hierarchy (Miranda-de la Lama et al, 2013) and group size (Abdelfattah et al, 2013) on cattle growth and welfare, no studies have examined the effect of group size on behavioural and immune responses of young male buffaloes. Therefore, this study was designed in two experiments concerning fattening male buffaloes.…”

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

“…Six individually housed calves and 6 pairs of paired-housed calves were selected randomly for behavioral observations from d 43 to 70. Based on previous results [18,23,24], the sample sizes of behavior variables were estimated to obtain a power of 0.8 under a significance level of 0.05. During weaning and post-weaning periods, the behavioral data were recorded for 48 h on d 43, 50, and 57.…”