Social approach and place aversion in relation to conspecific pain in dairy calves

Abstract

Despite scientific interest in animal empathy, and growing public concern for farm animal welfare, the empathic abilities of farm animals remain under researched. In this study, we investigated empathic responses of young Holstein dairy calves to conspecifics recovering from hot-iron disbudding, a painful procedure common on dairy farms. A combination of social approach and place conditioning was used. First, 'observer' calves witnessed two 'demonstrator' calves recover from either a painful procedure (hot-iron disbudding and sedation) or a sham procedure (sedation alone) in distinct pens. Observer calves spent more time in proximity and paid more attention to calves recovering from the painful procedure compared to sham calves (proximity: 59.6 ± 4.3%; attention: 54.3 ± 1.5%). Observers were then tested for conditioned place aversion (in the absence of demonstrators) at 48h, 72h and 96h after the second demonstration; observers tended to avoid the pen associated with conspecific pain during the second of the three tests, spending 34.8 ± 9.6% of their time in this pen. No strong evidence of pain empathy was found, but our tentative results encourage further research on empathy in animals.

Indication of social buffering in disbudded calves

“…In some species (e.g., rats), tactile contact is an important cue for inducing social buffering 60 , and thus we could expect that positive social interactions occur more frequently after experiencing stress to allow transmission of social buffering. Our results are in contrast with findings of Ede et al who reported that calves spent more time in proximity to a conspecific in pain 47 , and Gingerich et al who even reported decreased interest of disbudded calves in sharing shelter with other calves 6 . Our results are consistent with the findings of Turner et al who did not confirm increased maternal care towards calves displaying the most behavioral evidence of pain 48 .…”

“…Research on transmission of social buffering in cattle is rare, and the findings are not consistent. Ede et al reported that calves spent more time in proximity and paid more attention to a conspecific in pain compared to a sham treated calf 47 . However, Gingerich et al reported that disbudded calves left shelter more frequently when it was occupied 6 , and Turner et al reported that ear tagging and castration did not result in calves receiving more maternal attention 48 .…”

Researching Human-Cattle Interaction on Rangelands: Challenges and Potential Solutions

“…Grandin et al (1994) [ 74 ] demonstrates that it is difficult for cattle to unpair negative experiences in a given location despite other experiences that may follow, which is especially notable on rangelands where there are infrequent handling opportunities. In addition to memory of past experiences causing fear and stress in processing environments [ 71 , 72 , 75 , 76 , 77 ], immediate procedures surrounding human-animal interaction research may also impact outcome measures. For example, if a study is using chute score and flight speed to measure fear of restraint by humans during or after some aversive or painful experience (e.g., branding), it would be difficult to disentangle fear of handling from expression of pain or anxiety caused by the procedure itself or from the sounds and stress hormones of other cattle that have been processed prior to the focal cow [ 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 ].…”

Indication of Social Buffering in Disbudded Calves

“…Furthermore, it seems to be to the contrast with results of Ede et al (2020) who found that calves spent more time in proximity and paid more attention to a conspeci c in pain compared to a sham treated calf. However, the authors also found that physical contact occurred infrequently among calves 39 . Gingerich et al (2020) found that disbudded calves left shelter more frequently when it was occupied 9 and Dunlap et al…”