Cross-sucking in group-housed dairy calves before and after weaning off milk

1993 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena M. Lidfors
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Before And After

scholarly journals Welfare assessment of calf rearing management practices in family-based dairy units in rural areas of Mymensingh district, Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Islam ◽  
S. A. Shanta ◽  
R. A. Lima ◽  
M. Milon ◽  
K. Rudra
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Vaccination Schedule ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Poor Welfare ◽  
Calf Rearing

Background: Dairy calves are the future stock of the dairy farms. It is important to describe weaknesses in rearing calves not only to improve their welfare, but also to detect areas where current scientific knowledge is poorly integrated into practice. The aim of the present study was to gather information on calf rearing management practices followed by dairy owners, which are related to welfare. Methods: A survey of calf rearing practices was conducted using a farmer questionnaire to collect data. The survey included 140 family-based small dairy units in seven upazilas of Mymensingh district, Bangladesh. The frequency and percentage of the response were described. Results: We observed that all respondents attended their animals during calving and 82.14% respondents allowed cow to clean the calves immediately after calving. Only 13.57% farmers cleaned the mouth and nose of calf after birth. More than 85.0% owners cleaned and trimmed hooves of the calf after birth. More than 90%% respondents did not cut the naval cord of calf and apply antiseptic. More than half of the owners (54.28%) fed colostrum to calves when the animals were able to stand on their feet and only 37.14% of them fed colostrum within one hour of birth. About 44.28% respondents allowed ad lib quantity of colostrum to calf. It was found that 73.57% of the owners allowed suckling of calf until 3 to 6 month of age. Most of the owners (55.0%) allowed the calves to suckle all the quarter of udder before and after milking. None practiced castration and dehorning for male calves. Majority (97.14%) of farmers did not perform deworming and vaccination schedule of calves. Conclusion: This study identified a number of rearing practices that represent a poor welfare for calf, which may prone towards diseases and hampering the productivity. Therefore, in addition to the traditional practices, scientific knowledge for this aspect is also important to get superior animals for future.

scholarly journals Early-Life Dam-Calf Contact and Grazing Experience Influence Post-Weaning Behavior and Herbage Selection of Dairy Calves in the Short Term

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Nicolao ◽  
Mauro Coppa ◽  
Matthieu Bouchon ◽  
Enrico Sturaro ◽  
Dominique Pomiès ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Start Time ◽  
Grazing Behavior ◽  
Reciprocal Interactions ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Selection Of

Rearing dairy calves with their mothers could teach them how to graze, optimizing grass use, and improving their welfare and performance. We tested the short-term effects of dam-calf contact experience on grazing and social behavior of weaned calves, monitored over seven days for their first post-weaning grazing experience. “Dam” (D) calves were reared and grazed with their mothers until weaning. “Mixed” calves (M) were separated from their mothers after 4 ± 0.5 weeks, they experienced dam-calf contact, but not grazing. “Standard” (S) calves had never experienced either dam-calf contact (separated at birth) or grazing. Each group grazed an equivalent pasture plot offering heterogeneous herbage. Scan sampling of calves' activities was performed every 5 min, 6 h per day, on Days 0, 1, 2, 3, and 7. Daily, the time when calves started grazing after introduction to pasture, and the number and duration of their grazing cycles were measured. Daily activities were differentiated into ingestion, rumination, and idling. The proportion of time that calves spent grouped with other individuals or isolated, and standing or lying were recorded. When grazing, their bites were characterized by botanical family group, height of the selected bite and vegetation status. Individual average daily gains from the 2-week periods before and after grazing were calculated, and were equivalent between groups (313 ± 71 g/d). On Day 0, D-calves started grazing immediately (1 ± 4.1 min), unlike M- and S-calves (39 ± 4.1 and 23 ± 4.1 min), and D-calves grazed patches of dry grass 21.7 times less than M-calves and 16.9 times less than S-calves. Dry herbage patch preference and grazing start time differences disappeared on Day 1. Calves spent the same time ingesting and idling, but M-calves spent on average 1.6 times less ruminating than D- or S-calves. The D-calves showed grazing behavior similar to that of adult cows, selecting grasses throughout pasture utilization, although legumes and forbs were present in the grazed layer. On the contrary, M- and S-calves did not express any specific preference. The S-calves spent more time isolated but had more positive reciprocal interactions than the calves in the other groups.

scholarly journals Effects of pair versus single housing on performance and behavior of dairy calves before and after weaning from milk

2010 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 3079-3085 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. De Paula Vieira ◽  
M.A.G. von Keyserlingk ◽  
D.M. Weary
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Behavior

scholarly journals Evaluation of oxidative and an­tioxidant status in dairy calves before and after weaning

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-190
Author(s):  
A. Majlesi ◽  
S. P. Yasini ◽  
S. Azimpour ◽  
P. Mottaghian
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Blood Cells ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Weaning Stress ◽  
Vitamins E And C ◽  
Healthy Female ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Holstein Calves ◽  
Oxidative System ◽  
Calf Rearing

Weaning is a stressful step in calf rearing which can lead to oxidative stress. The purpose of the present study was to investigate oxidative stress and antioxidant status in calves pre and post weaning. A total of 22 clinically healthy female Holstein calves at the same age were selected and their blood samples were examined to measure the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) in red blood cells and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. Sampling was performed in 4 consecutive stages: 7 days pre-weaning, the day of weaning, 24 and 72 hours after it. The results indicated that the activity of SOD and GPx enzymes increased significantly on the weaning day compared to the previous week. CAT activity increased 24 and 72 hours after weaning and its increase was significant 72 hours after weaning compared to the day of weaning. An increase was observed in MDA level on the day of weaning compared to a week before, and the trend was towards increase after the weaning. Weaning stress leads to disturbances of oxidative system balance and causes oxidative damage in calves. This imbalance can be probably resolved by improving the antioxidant system and supplementing antioxidants such as vitamins E and C against free radicals produced during weaning.

scholarly journals Evaluation of an herbal therapy to alleviate acute pain and stress of disbudded dairy calves under organic management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah N Phillips ◽  
Bradley J Heins
Keyword(s):  
Blood Plasma ◽  
Local Anesthetic ◽  
Plasma Cortisol ◽  
Serum Cortisol ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Acute Injury ◽  
Herbal Therapy ◽  
Salix Alba ◽  
Foeniculum Vulgare ◽  
Before And After

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to evaluate an herbal therapy used in place of standard synthetic analgesia to mitigate disbudding pain of dairy calves. For this experiment, fifty-four calves were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: 1) local anesthetic lidocaine given as a cornual nerve block before cautery disbudding (AD); 2) sham disbudding (SD); or 3) herbal tincture (Dull It, Dr. Paul’s Lab, Mazomanie, WI) composed of white willow (Salix alba L.) bark, St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.), chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.), arnica (Arnica montana L.), and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) administered orally before and after cautery disbudding (TD). Behaviors were assessed during disbudding, and behaviors and blood plasma cortisol concentrations were assessed following disbudding. Tail wag, head movement, forcing ahead, and kick rates recorded during disbudding were similar among treatments. When averaged across the 360-min observation period following disbudding, injury-directed behavioral rates of head jerks, head shakes, horn bud scratches, and head rubs were greater (P ≤ 0.03) for calves in the AD group than calves in the SD group, calves in the TD group had greater (P < 0.01) horn bud scratch and head rub rates compared to calves in the SD group, and calves in the AD group had a greater (P < 0.01) horn bud scratch rate than calves in the TD group. Calves in the AD group took 1.6 (95% CI = 1.0 to 2.4, P = 0.03) times longer to lie down after disbudding compared to calves in the TD group. Serum cortisol concentrations were greater (P ≤ 0.01) for calves in the TD group compared to calves in the SD group at 10, 30, and 90 min after disbudding. At 30 min after disbudding, calves in the AD group had 5.8 ng mL −1 (95% CI = −1.1 to 12.7 ng mL −1, P = 0.02) greater serum cortisol compared to calves in the SD group; while calves in the TD group had 14.3 ng mL −1 (95% CI = 1.5 to 27.1 ng mL −1, P < 0.01) greater serum cortisol than calves in the AD group. In conclusion, neither the local anesthetic lidocaine nor the orally administered herbal tincture attenuated both acute injury-directed behaviors and blood plasma cortisol concentrations in disbudded calves, and the tincture was clearly less effective at mitigating cortisol; therefore, additional analgesic may be required to properly manage disbudding pain effectively.

scholarly journals PSIII-4 Infrared thermography as a method for detecting pain in dairy calves in response to disbudding on-farm

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 190-191
Author(s):  
Mhairi Sutherland ◽  
Gemma Lowe ◽  
Neil Cox ◽  
Mairi Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Thermography ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Mixed Model Analysis ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Invasive Method ◽  
Feeding Bout ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Eye Temperature

Abstract Measured using infrared thermography (IRT), changes in eye temperature, can be used to non-invasively measure pain in response to husbandry procedures such as disbudding in calves. Previous studies have manually recorded IRT in controlled studies, however, it would be of interest to determine if IRT could be used to measure changes in eye temperature in response to pain in an automated on-farm system. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if IRT could be used to detect pain in dairy calves in response to disbudding on-farm. At 3 wk of age, 51 Friesian calves were allocated to 1 of 5 treatment groups: 1) sham handling (SHAM, n = 10), 2) cautery disbudding (DB, n = 11), 3) administration of local anesthetic (LA) and DB (LA+DB, n = 11), 4) administration of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and DB (NSAID+DB, n = 9) and 5) administration of LA, NSAID and DB (LA+NSAID+DB, n = 10). Eye temperature was measured using an IRT camera located next to an automatic calf milk feeder for 3 days before and after disbudding. During each calf’s visit to the feeder, IRT images were automatically recorded for the duration of the feeding bout. A mixed model analysis with splines was used to determine the effect of treatment on eye temperature over time. There was no overall effect of disbudding treatment on eye temperature (P = 0.22), but temperature appeared to increase in calves after disbudding or sham handling (P = 0.036). On average, calves visited the calf feeder 4 times/day, which may have been too infrequent to collect sufficient IRT images to detect a difference in eye temperature in response to disbudding. However, the increase in eye temperature after disbudding and handling may reflect a general stress response. Therefore, the automated use of IRT to measure eye temperature may be a useful non-invasive method to measure stress in calves.

scholarly journals Pessimistic dairy calves are more vulnerable to pain-induced anhedonia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242100
Author(s):  
Benjamin Lecorps ◽  
Emeline Nogues ◽  
Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk ◽  
Daniel M. Weary
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Local Anesthesia ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Judgment Bias ◽  
Sweet Solution ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Holstein Calves ◽  
Rule Out

Pain induces deficits in appreciation of rewards (i.e. anhedonia) and variation in response to pain may be partly explained by individual differences in general expectations (i.e. optimism). Dairy calves are routinely subjected to painful procedures such as hot-iron disbudding. We tested if female Holstein calves (n = 17) display signs of anhedonia (as evidenced by reduced consumption of a sweet solution) after hot-iron disbudding (performed under general and local anesthesia), and whether individual differences in optimism explain the variation in this response. Individual variation in optimism was measured using responses to two judgment bias tests (performed when calves were 25 d old), and anhedonia was measured by comparing consumption of a sweet solution before and after hot-iron disbudding. We found that intake of the sweet solution declined (by mean ± SD: 48.4 ± 44.3%) on the day after disbudding, and that more pessimistic calves were more affected. Sweet solution consumption did not return to baseline for the duration of the study (i.e. 5 days). Calves reduced their intake of a sweet solution after hot-iron disbudding, consistent with pain-induced anhedonia, and more pessimistic calves showed stronger evidence of anhedonia, suggesting that they were more affected by the procedure. However, our results cannot rule out the possibility that calf responses were driven by anorexia.

scholarly journals “EMBIOTIC” Ltd. “EM-Ukraine” – an alternative to antibiotic therapy for digestive disorders in calves

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (102) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Zh. V. Rybachuk ◽  
I. V. Prisyazhnyuk ◽  
K. O. Chirta-Sinelnyk
Keyword(s):  
Feed Additives ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Feed Additive ◽  
Symptomatic Therapy ◽  
Prophylactic Efficacy ◽  
Treatment Regimens ◽  
Physiological Limits ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Newborn Calves ◽  
Sleep In Animals

The prophylactic efficacy of diarrhea in calves with different methods and doses of feed additive “EMBIOTIC” during the first 14 days of life was studied. Almost 50 % of dairy calves had symptoms of diarrhea. Effective treatment regimens for such animals included one of the antibiotics (azithromycin or 15 % amoxicillin emulsion) and, if necessary, sulfonamide drugs (trimeratinvet with the drugs sulfadimesine and trimethoprim) or the drug sulfate lozin, which includes sulfonamide and antibiotics (tylosin tartrate, oxytetracycline, sulfadimesine, trimethoprim). Simultaneously, symptomatic therapy was performed with the use of refinery – 10 % solution of ketoprofen in the form of the drug ketonil, which provided analgesia and reduction of body temperature to physiological limits. Еhere is always a drug cyanophore (LR butaphosphane and cyanocobalamin) as a general stimulant in the scheme. To conduct the experiment, 5 groups of animals were formed, 6 in each, age – the first day after birth. From the first to the 14th day of life, from the first or second colostrum, each calf from different groups was given daily 5 cm3, 10 cm3 and 15 cm3 of feed additive “EMBIOTIC”, respectively. The fourth experimental group – control (probiotic was not received), and the fifth – calves obtained from cows, which 10–14 days before and after calving daily with feed or water received 80–100 cm3 of feed additive “EMBIOTIC”, and calves the tested drug was not used. During the experiment twice a day (morning and evening), clinical observation and examination of calves of all experimental groups. Two days later, calves that received 5 cm3, 10 cm3 and 15 cm3 of feed additive “EMBIOTIC” were registered to improve appetite, increased mobility and prolonged and pronounced sleep. In animals that received with milk 10 cm3 and 15 cm3 of feed additives, during the observation period, disorders of the digestive system were not registered. Two calves, receiving 5 cm3 of EMBIOTICS daily, had symptoms of minor diarrhea for only 12 days, but there was no appetite. After 24 hours, the symptoms of indigestion went away on their own without the use of any drugs. Newborn calves obtained from cows that received “EMBIOTIC” as part of their diet or water were rated 9–10 on the Apgar scale. From the 3rd day they ate straw and they registered chewing gum for 3.7 ± 0.2 days of life. Within 14 days of observation of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, they were not registered. Thus, the feed additive “EMBIOTIC” provides prevention of diarrhea in calves.

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