Secluded maternity areas for parturient dairy cows offer protection from herd members

Abstract

Use of individual maternity pens for dairy cows is recommended to ensure undisturbed calving and postpartum transfer of colostrum to calves, but management of these pens is a challenge due to difficulty predicting the time of calving. If group-housed cows, however, have the opportunity to calve in a secluded area of a group pen, this may limit disturbance of the dam and her newborn, especially if this area is fitted with a gate preventing other cows from entering. The aims of this study were to assess effects of cows calving inside a secluded area versus cows calving in the group area on maternal behavior and social interaction between dam and herd members during the first postpartum hour, calf's latency to stand, number of calves suckling an alien cow, and the dam's acute response to separation from the calf. This was investigated in pens consisting of a central group area with access to 6 secluded areas with or without a mechanical push gate allowing only 1 cow access at a time. At least 2 wk before expected calving, 60 Danish Holstein multiparous cows were assigned alternately, in groups of 6, to a group pen with 6 gated secluded areas or a group pen with 6 ungated secluded areas. The effects of treatment (gated, ungated) and calving place chosen within treatment (secluded area, group area) on maternal behavior, interactions with herd members, maternal response to separation, and calf latency to stand were investigated. Irrespective of whether cows calved in a secluded area or not and whether the secluded area was gated or not, cows spent, on average, 39 (±7.9) min of the first hour after calving licking their calves. When calving in a gated secluded area, the cows interacted less with herd members than when calving in the group area (0.5, 28, 18, and 33 min/h for gated/secluded, gated/group, ungated/secluded, and ungated/group areas, respectively), and no calves suckled an alien cow within the first hour after birth. In addition, the longer the calf stayed with the dam, the longer the dam stood with her head out of the pen after removal of the calf. Calf's latency to stand after calving was unaffected by treatment and calving place (mean = 39 min; range = 8-243 min). The results show that dam and calf can be protected from disturbances when cows calve in a secluded maternity area, especially if the secluded maternity area is fitted with a gate preventing other cows form entering.

Understanding Behavioural Development of Calves in Natural Settings to Inform Calf Management

“…When permitted, cows in loose housing barns begin licking their calf on average 5 [ 26 ] to 7 min after parturition [ 14 ]. Young ungulates typically spend most of the first hour after parturition being licked; for example, one study showed that Friesian calves born in individual pens were licked 30–50% of the time during their first hour of life [ 16 ], and Danish Holstein calves born indoors have recently been reported to be licked the first 40 min after birth [ 27 ].…”

“…In contrast, most dairy production systems remove newborn calves from their mothers within 12–24 h of birth (e.g., Brazil [ 28 ], United States [ 29 ], Australia [ 30 ]). There has been increasing interest in the effects of housing design at calving [ 15 , 27 , 31 ] and the effects of cow–calf contact in dairy systems [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], though research focusing on calf behaviour and health in these systems is still limited (reviewed by Johnsen et al [ 35 ]).…”

Methodology for experimental and observational animal studies in cow-calf contact systems

“…high pitched (open mouth) is an especially valuable indicator of separation stress (Johnsen et al, 2015c) or low pitched (closed mouth); pacing along barrier, time spent standing and gazing in the direction of the calf (cow) (Johnsen et al, 2015a), with the head out of pen (Jensen et al, 2019), resting in recumbent position or calf restlessness. Other measures, such as faecal cortisol metabolites or salivary cortisol may be relevant.…”

“…Access to individual maternity pens that provide a visual barrier can help cows to find seclusion from other cows (Proudfoot et al ., 2014) and facilitate the intensive interaction during the first hours after calving, which is crucial in this early stage of bond development (von Keyserlingk and Weary, 2007). Besides, calving in a secluded and undisturbed area decreases occurrence of calves suckling alien cows (Jensen et al ., 2019).…”

“…The type of separation should be described in detail (Sirovnik et al ., 2020) as well as how and where the animals are kept after separation. Useful behavioural indicators in both cow and calves are frequency and type of vocalizations; high pitched (open mouth) is an especially valuable indicator of separation stress (Johnsen et al ., 2015c) or low pitched (closed mouth); pacing along barrier, time spent standing and gazing in the direction of the calf (cow) (Johnsen et al ., 2015a), with the head out of pen (Jensen et al ., 2019), resting in recumbent position or calf restlessness. Other measures, such as faecal cortisol metabolites or salivary cortisol may be relevant.…”