Effect of space allowance on behaviour of newborn milk-fed dairy calves

Tapkı, İbrahim; Şahi̇n, Ahmet; Onal, Ali

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2005.09.006

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…In agreement with other studies (Jensen et al, 1998;Babu et al, 2004;Tapki et al, 2006), the results indicate that the most common housing system for dairy calves, the small individual pen, reduces the natural expression of play behavior. This could be either due to the absence of companions, or due to the lack of space available.…”

Section: Effects Of Companionssupporting

confidence: 93%

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The effect of age at separation from the dam and presence of social companions on play behavior and weight gain in dairy calves

Valníčková

Stěhulová

Šárová

et al. 2015

Journal of Dairy Science

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Play behavior positively affects welfare of farm animals, yet impoverished social environment during early ontogeny may limit the opportunity or motivation to play. This study investigated the independent and the combined effects of the presence of the dam during the colostrum feeding period and subsequent group housing on play behavior and growth in dairy calves. Forty female calves were allocated to 1 of 4 treatments according to a 2×2 factorial design. The treatments were with or without mother during the 4d after birth and companion housing (single pens or grouped housing in pens of 4 calves between 1 and 8wk of age). After 8wk of age all calves were housed in groups of 4 calves. Play behavior of the calves was observed at 2, 5, and 12wk of age in the following situations: 6 h of spontaneous behavior in the home pen, a 15-min open-field test, and a 15-min social test with an unfamiliar calf. Additionally, play behavior after grouping or relocation at 8wk of age was recorded during two 2-h sessions. There were no significant effects of the mother by companion interaction either on the amount of play behavior in any of the tests or on the body weights of the calves. Presence of the mother after birth did not increase later playfulness, with the exception of higher spontaneous play at 12wk of age. When calves were housed in groups of 4, they played more in the home pen on wk 2 and 5 than individually housed calves of the same age. In contrast, individually housed calves were more playful during open-field tests and social tests on wk 2 and 5. At 8wk, single calves that were placed in a new pen with 3 unfamiliar calves played more than twice as much as grouped calves that were just moved to a new pen with familiar companions. These results show that single-housed calves are deprived of natural levels of play, as demonstrated by both their lower spontaneous play behavior and the higher rebound effect when they are exposed to larger spaces or larger spaces plus companions. Calves that stayed with their mothers for 4d postpartum grew much better until the end of the second week. After that, grouped calves grew better until wk 10 and they tended to be heavier for at least 2wk after relocation or mixing at wk 8. The study shows that brief maternal rearing and group housing independently improve different aspects of performance and welfare of dairy calves.

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Section: Effects Of Companionssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…This could be either due to the absence of companions, or due to the lack of space available. The studies published so far show that space availability plays the major role (Jensen et al, 1998;Jensen and Kyhn, 2000;Tapki et al, 2006;Mintline et al, 2013). Pens ranging between 1.3 to 5.4 m 2 for single calves and Figure 2.…”

Section: Effects Of Companionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

The effect of age at separation from the dam and presence of social companions on play behavior and weight gain in dairy calves

Valníčková

Stěhulová

Šárová

et al. 2015

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…Space allowance during the pre-weaning phase has been shown to influence calf behaviour. The total time spent lying was similar when calves were reared at space allowances ranging from 0.75 to 4 m² (Faerevik et al, 2008;Tapkı, Şahin, & Önal, 2006) however, synchronous resting reduced with smaller space allowances (Faerevik et al, 2008). Calves reared at 2.0 m² /calf spent less time lying and more time standing and walking compared to calves reared at a space allowance of 1.0 or 1.5 m² /calf .…”

Section: Management and Housingmentioning

confidence: 77%

Dairy calves’ preference for rearing substrate

Worth

Schütz

Stewart³

et al. 2015

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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“…It may be due to higher maintenance requirement in T 0.9 group as compared to other groups. Tapki et al (2006) also reported that calves housed in medium and large pens had opportunities to move around or showing locomotor activity. space allowances of 2.32 m 2 and 1.58 m 2 respectively, but only 1.07 kg/day at a space allowance of 1.30 m 2 .…”

Section: Results and Discussion Growth Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of different floor space allowances on the performance and behaviorof Beetal kids under stall-fed conditions

Thakur

Malik

Kaswan

et al. 2016

IJAR

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Present study was conducted to investigate the effect of different floor space allowances on performance and behavior of Beetal kids from 3 to 6 months of age. Twenty four spring born Beetal kids (3 month old) were randomly divided in to four groups (n=6 each group) on the basis of space allowances i.e. 0.6 m 2 , 0.7 m 2 , 0.8 m 2 and 0.9 m 2 covered area and 1.2 m 2 , 1.4 m 2 , 1.6 m 2 and 1.8 m 2 open area per kid. The results indicated that most of the performance parameters i.e. body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were marginally higher with higher space allowance, but these did not differ statistically. However behavioural activities like moving, exploring pen, grooming and resting were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in large space allowance groups whereas, eating, standing and negative social interactions were significantly better (p < 0.05) in lower floor space allowance groups. It is concluded that the increase in floor space allowance had favorable effect on the performance and behavior of Beetal kids.

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Effect of space allowance on behaviour of newborn milk-fed dairy calves

Cited by 26 publications

References 6 publications

The effect of age at separation from the dam and presence of social companions on play behavior and weight gain in dairy calves

The effect of age at separation from the dam and presence of social companions on play behavior and weight gain in dairy calves

Dairy calves’ preference for rearing substrate

Effect of different floor space allowances on the performance and behaviorof Beetal kids under stall-fed conditions

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