Rearing substrate and space allowance influences locomotor play behaviour of dairy calves in an arena test

AbstractThe aim of the study reported in this Research Communication was to compare play behaviour and social interactions of dairy calves either separated from their mother and reared in a calf group (Artificial) or with access to their mother and the cow herd (cow-calf contact: Contact). Contact calves had access to a calf area and also to the cow barn where they could suckle their dam. Artificial calves were fed whole milk up to 16 kg per day via an automatic milk feeder and were only kept in the calf area. We observed the animals on 3 d during the first three months of life. Contact calves showed solitary play, consisting predominantly of locomotor play, for longer than Artificial calves and mainly in the cow barn. This indicates higher welfare in Contact calves. In addition, Artificial calves hardly experienced any agonistic interaction, while Contact calves both initiated and received agonistic interactions, which might contribute to the development of higher social competence.

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Effect of Morphine Administration on Social and Non-Social Play Behaviour in Calves

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani9020056 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 56 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mhairi Sutherland ◽

Gemma Worth ◽

Catherine Cameron ◽

Else Verbeek

Keyword(s):

Intravenous Injection ◽

Affective State ◽

Social Play ◽

Play Behaviour ◽

Morphine Administration ◽

Positive Affective State ◽

Arena Test

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of morphine on social and non‐socialplay behaviour in calves. Twelve calves experienced four treatments in a cross over 2 × 2 factorialdesign: Calves received an intravenous injection of morphine or saline 10 min prior to being testedindividually or in pairs in an arena for 20 min. Play behaviour was continuously recorded in thearena test. Lying times were recorded in the home pen. Cortisol concentrations were measuredbefore and after testing. In the arena test, calves given morphine tended to perform more social playevents than calves given saline, however, morphine administration had no effect on locomotor play.Calves given morphine spent less time lying than calves given saline during the first 4 h afterreturning to the home pen. Cortisol concentrations were suppressed in calves given morphine.Administration of morphine appeared to increase social play but had no effect on locomotor playin calves. This study highlights the importance of investigating different aspects of play behaviourin animals as some may be more indicative of a positive affective state than others. More studiesinvestigating the effects of morphine on play are needed to confirm the results found in this study.

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Reduced locomotor play behaviour of dairy calves following separation from the mother reflects their response to reduced energy intake

Applied Animal Behaviour Science ◽

10.1016/j.applanim.2016.01.023 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 177 ◽

pp. 6-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jeff Rushen ◽

Rebecca Wright ◽

Julie Føske Johnsen ◽

Cecilie Marie Mejdell ◽

Anne Marie de Passillé

Keyword(s):

Energy Intake ◽

Dairy Calves ◽

Play Behaviour

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Play behaviour in group-housed dairy calves, the effect of space allowance

Applied Animal Behaviour Science ◽

10.1016/s0168-1591(99)00113-6 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 67 (1-2) ◽

pp. 35-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

Margit Bak Jensen ◽

Rikke Kyhn

Keyword(s):

Dairy Calves ◽

Play Behaviour

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Does dairy calves’ motivation for social play behaviour build up over time?

Applied Animal Behaviour Science ◽

10.1016/j.applanim.2019.02.017 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 214 ◽

pp. 18-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Maja Bertelsen ◽

Margit Bak Jensen

Keyword(s):

Social Play ◽

Dairy Calves ◽

Play Behaviour ◽

Over Time

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Machine Learning Algorithms to Classify and Quantify Multiple Behaviours in Dairy Calves Using a Sensor: Moving beyond Classification in Precision Livestock

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21010088 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 88

Author(s):

Charles Carslake ◽

Jorge A. Vázquez-Diosdado ◽

Jasmeet Kaler

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Learning Algorithm ◽

Wearable Sensors ◽

Window Size ◽

Machine Learning Algorithms ◽

Dairy Calves ◽

Learning Approaches ◽

True Prevalence ◽

Play Behaviour ◽

Highly Correlated

Previous research has shown that sensors monitoring lying behaviours and feeding can detect early signs of ill health in calves. There is evidence to suggest that monitoring change in a single behaviour might not be enough for disease prediction. In calves, multiple behaviours such as locomotor play, self-grooming, feeding and activity whilst lying are likely to be informative. However, these behaviours can occur rarely in the real world, which means simply counting behaviours based on the prediction of a classifier can lead to overestimation. Here, we equipped thirteen pre-weaned dairy calves with collar-mounted sensors and monitored their behaviour with video cameras. Behavioural observations were recorded and merged with sensor signals. Features were calculated for 1–10-s windows and an AdaBoost ensemble learning algorithm implemented to classify behaviours. Finally, we developed an adjusted count quantification algorithm to predict the prevalence of locomotor play behaviour on a test dataset with low true prevalence (0.27%). Our algorithm identified locomotor play (99.73% accuracy), self-grooming (98.18% accuracy), ruminating (94.47% accuracy), non-nutritive suckling (94.96% accuracy), nutritive suckling (96.44% accuracy), active lying (90.38% accuracy) and non-active lying (90.38% accuracy). Our results detail recommended sampling frequencies, feature selection and window size. The quantification estimates of locomotor play behaviour were highly correlated with the true prevalence (0.97; p < 0.001) with a total overestimation of 18.97%. This study is the first to implement machine learning approaches for multi-class behaviour identification as well as behaviour quantification in calves. This has potential to contribute towards new insights to evaluate the health and welfare in calves by use of wearable sensors.

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The Correlation between Play Behavior, Serum Cortisol and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Welfare Assessment of Dairy Calves within the First Month of Life

Dairy ◽

10.3390/dairy3010001 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Asahi Ogi ◽

Marco Campera ◽

Sara Ienco ◽

Francesca Bonelli ◽

Chiara Mariti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Serum Cortisol ◽

Physiological Parameters ◽

Play Behavior ◽

Neutrophil To Lymphocyte Ratio ◽

Dairy Calves ◽

Blood Collection ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Lymphocyte Ratio ◽

Cortisol Levels ◽

Arena Test

Welfare assessment of dairy calves is commonly conducted through the observation of their behavior and the analysis of physiological parameters. Despite the large number of studies on this topic, there is a lack of research on the possible correlation between the physiological parameters and behavior at basal level in dairy calves. For this reason, the present study aimed to investigate the possible correlations between serum cortisol, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (N/L) and locomotor play behavior in 21 Friesian dairy calves within their first month of life. Every week, an arena test after blood collection was performed. A significant positive correlation between serum cortisol levels and N/L (rrm = 0.381; 95% CI = 0.083, 0.617; p = 0.012) and a negative correlation between time spent running and N/L (rrm = −0.351; 95% CI = −0.575, −0.077; p = 0.012) were found. On the contrary, no significant correlation between time spent running and cortisol levels was detected. Cortisol levels and N/L were higher in the newborn and had a constant decrease until reaching a stable value after the 24th day of life. These findings suggest a better predictivity of N/L, compared to serum cortisol, on locomotor play behavior.

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The effect of age when group housed and other management factors on playing and non-nutritive sucking behaviour in dairy calves: a cross sectional observational study

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica ◽

10.1186/s13028-020-00562-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Masja Reipurth ◽

Stephanie Kruuse Klausen ◽

Matthew Denwood ◽

Björn Forkman ◽

Hans Houe

Keyword(s):

Observational Study ◽

Dairy Calves ◽

Organic N ◽

Age Difference ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Play Behaviour ◽

Nutritive Sucking ◽

Indirect Measures ◽

The Mean ◽

First Time

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to investigate if calves’ play behaviour and non-nutritive sucking behaviour, as indirect measures of welfare status, are associated with the age of the calf when group housed, age when observed, age difference within the group, pen size, milk feeding system, current or previous sicknesses, access to dry teat, indoor/outdoor rearing, sex, organic/conventional farm, group size and regrouping events. An observational study was conducted on 176 Danish dairy calves in the age range of 1–12 weeks, on both conventional (n = 17) and organic (n = 5) farms. All calves had been group housed before 8 weeks of age and had spent various periods of time with the dam and/or individually housed before being group housed. Behaviour was recorded continuously by filming each individual calf over a period of 30 min. Results The calf’s age when group housed for the first time was not found to be significantly associated with duration of either play behaviour (P = 0.55) or non-nutritive sucking behaviour (P = 0.44). It was found that calves had significantly reduced odds of playing for longer than the mean play duration (5.5 s) for each day of their lives (OR = 0.97, P = 0.003). Also, they had reduced odds of performing non-nutritive sucking behaviour for longer than the mean non-nutritive sucking duration (145.5 s) when milk was allocated by drinker buckets fitted with a teat compared to by bowl or trough (OR = 0.06, P = 0.02). Conclusion No significant associations were found between calves’ age when group housed for the first time and play and non-nutritive sucking behaviour. It was found that calves’ play behaviour decreased with increasing age, and that non-nutritive sucking behaviour decreased when milk was allocated with a teat compared to no teat.

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