The influence of personality and weaning method on early feeding behavior and growth of Norwegian Red calves

Abstract

Some research has described a relationship between personality and feeding behavior at weaning in Holstein dairy calves; our objective was to determine if personality traits, especially sociability, are associated with differences in feeding behavior and growth in Norwegian Red calves. Our secondary objective was to assess the interaction between personality traits and gradual weaning method (by age or by concentrate intake) on the behavior and growth of calves. Twenty-seven Norwegian Red calves were housed in 7 groups of 3 to 5 calves, with group composition based on birthdate to ensure that there were no more than 21 d between the youngest and oldest calves. Calves had access to an automated milk and concentrate feeder with ad libitum access to concentrates, water, hay, and silage. Calves were semi-randomly assigned to be either gradually weaned by age at d 56, or weaned by intake, where weaning was initiated based on reaching specific concentrate intake targets. We measured milk intake, concentrate intake, and the number of unrewarded visits to the automated feeder during each of 5 experimental periods: preweaning (12 L/d; 10-30 d of age), weaning (milk allowance gradually reduced by method until completely weaned), weaning week (3 d before weaning and the first 7 d of 0 L/d milk allowance), postweaning (20 d after complete milk removal), and the total experimental period (10-20 d postweaning). At 21 and 80 d of age, individual behavioral responses toward novelty and isolation (indicative of personality) were recorded in 3 personality tests: novel environment, novel object, and a social motivation test (time taken to return the group). At 83 d of age, a group novel object test was conducted. Principal component analysis revealed 3 factors interpreted as personality traits (playful/exploratory, vocal/active, interactive in group test) that together explained 56% of the variance. Calves that were more playful/exploratory consumed more milk per day preweaning and more concentrate per day over the experimental period. Calves that were more vocal/active (interpreted as a type of sociability trait where vocalizations and pacing serve to communicate with conspecifics when isolated from herd) had lower preweaning milk intakes and lower concentrate intakes over the experimental period. Calves that were more interactive in the group test (interpreted as a type of sociability trait when with other herd mates) had lower preweaning and weaning concentrate intakes. There was no interaction between personality traits and weaning method on feeding behavior or performance outcomes; however, calves that were weaned by intake (successfully reached all concentrate targets) had higher average daily gains postweaning, likely due to consuming more concentrate per day over the entire experiment, than calves who failed to reach all targets, or were weaned by age. We concluded that the sociability traits of Norwegian Red calves were related to individual differences in milk and concentrate intake. Although the relationship between pers...

Effects of intake-based weaning and forage type on feeding behavior and growth of dairy calves fed by automated feeders

“…Additionally, 10 calves failed to meet intake targets in the wean-by-intake (8 calves) and wean-by-combination (2 calves) treatments; as these calves failed to complete their assigned weaning protocol, they were removed from any inferential test of the effect of treatment, and their results are presented graphically for descriptive purposes. Previous work investigating intake-based weaning methods has also found a proportion of calves failing to reach intake targets by a predetermined age, and these failed calves were removed from their respective treatments (de Passillé and Rushen, 2012;Benetton et al, 2019;Whalin et al, 2022). A total of 91 calves remained in the present analysis: wean-by-age, n = 31; successful-intake (met all 3 intake targets), n = 27; and successful-combination (met the intake target by d 62), n = 33.…”

“…Data for feed intake, feeding behavior, and growth were summarized into 3 periods: preweaning (d 2-30), weaning (d 31-69), and postweaning (d 70-84). The effects of treatment were tested separately within each period, as we had a strong expectation that these effects would differ across periods, based upon the results of previous work (Benetton et al, 2019;Whalin et al, 2022).…”

“…Additionally, if calves responded to reduced milk allowance by immediately increasing their starter intake, this would trigger a further abrupt reduction in milk allowance such that some calves were fully weaned within one week. Previous studies have also reported that approximately 18% of calves fail to meet starter intake targets by a predetermined age (de Passillé and Rushen, 2012;Benetton et al, 2019;Whalin et al, 2022). Thus, further refinements to weaning programs based on individual solid feed intake are needed, perhaps by reducing the milk more gradually once a solid feed intake target is reached.…”

“…Overall, we expected intake-based weaning methods to encourage greater solid feed intake during weaning, resulting in greater solid feed intake after weaning and overall growth. We also anticipated that a proportion of calves assigned to the intake-based weaning methods would fail to meet intake targets based on previous work (see de Passillé and Rushen, 2012;Benetton et al, 2019;Whalin et al, 2022).…”

Indication of a personality trait in dairy calves and its link to weight gain through automatically collected feeding behaviours

“…Exploration, as measured by behavioural tests, has been associated with performance with one study in calves reporting that more exploratory individuals gained more weight 12 . However, a similar study in calves reported no difference 36 . More broadly, our results are in line with the ‘pace-of-life syndrome’ which predicts that individuals on the ‘faster’ end of the fast/slow continuum tend to have higher metabolism and grow more quickly 37 .…”