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Effect of human interaction on standing behavior and health parameters of individually-housed dairy calves
The purpose of this study was to determine behavioral patterns and health parameters of 2 groups of individually-housed pre-weaned dairy calves (n = 7) that had minimal or increased daily human interaction. Seven (n = 7) calves were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: no human interaction above normal operation handling during a 13-d trial (n = 4; NON) and 30 min of human interaction above normal operation handling for 9 d of the 13-d trial (n = 3; INT). Postural data was collected utilizing HOBO Pendant G data loggers (Onset Computers, Bourne, MA) fitted on the rear leg of each calf and set to record every minute. Health (1 = normal to 4 = poor) and fecal (1 = normal to 4 = watery) scores were also collected daily. Data was analyzed as a completely randomized design, with calf the experimental unit. No difference (P > 0.10) was observed between INT and NON calves for fecal and health scores. Daily standing time was greater (P < 0.01) for NON calves compared to INT calves (397.3 versus 326.6 ± 15.09 min/d, respectively). Also, NON calves had more standing bouts per day (P < 0.01) than INT calves (23.4 versus 20.2 ± 0.86 bouts/d, respectively); however, standing bout durations were greater (P < 0.01) in INT calves than NON calves (20.4 versus 14.6 ± 0.85 min/bout, respectively). Contrarily, there was no difference (P > 0.10) in daily lying bouts and lying bout durations between calf groups. No difference was observed (P > 0.10) in hourly standing time between treatment. However, standing time did change (P < 0.01) across hour regardless of treatment. Results indicate that increased human interaction may alter dairy calf behavior but may not affect calf health.
Keywords: behavior, dairy calves, health parameters, human interaction