scholarly journals Pair housing makes calves more optimistic

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarína Bučková ◽  
Marek Špinka ◽  
Sara Hintze
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Individual Housing ◽  
Learning Speed ◽  
Judgement Bias ◽  
Operant Task ◽  
Subsequent Discrimination ◽  
Learning Performances

AbstractIndividual housing of dairy calves is common farm practice, but has negative effects on calf welfare. A compromise between practice and welfare may be housing calves in pairs. We compared learning performances and affective states as assessed in a judgement bias task of individually housed and pair-housed calves. Twenty-two calves from each housing treatment were trained on a spatial Go/No-go task with active trial initiation to discriminate between the location of a teat-bucket signalling either reward (positive location) or non-reward (negative location). We compared the number of trials to learn the operant task (OT) for the trial initiation and to finish the subsequent discrimination task (DT). Ten pair-housed and ten individually housed calves were then tested for their responses to ambiguous stimuli positioned in-between the positive and negative locations. Housing did not affect learning speed (OT: F1,35 = 0.39, P = 0.54; DT: F1,19  = 0.15, P = 0.70), but pair-housed calves responded more positively to ambiguous cues than individually housed calves (χ21 = 6.79, P = 0.009), indicating more positive affective states. This is the first study to demonstrate that pair housing improves the affective aspect of calf welfare when compared to individual housing.

scholarly journals Pair housing makes calves more optimistic

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarína Bučková ◽  
Marek Špinka ◽  
Sara Hintze
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Individual Housing ◽  
Learning Speed ◽  
Judgement Bias ◽  
Operant Task ◽  
Subsequent Discrimination ◽  
Learning Performances

AbstractIndividual housing of dairy calves is common farm practice, but has negative effects on calf welfare. A compromise between practice and welfare may be housing calves in pairs. We compared learning performances and affective states as assessed in a judgement bias task of individually housed and pair-housed calves. Twenty-two calves from each housing treatment were trained on a spatial Go/No-go task with active trial initiation to discriminate between the location of a teat-bucket signalling either reward (positive location) or non-reward (negative location). We compared the number of trials to learn the operant task (OT) for the trial initiation and to finish the subsequent discrimination task (DT). Ten pair-housed and ten individually housed calves were then tested for their responses to ambiguous stimuli positioned in-between the positive and negative locations. Housing did not affect learning speed (OT: F1,34 = 0.42, P = 0.52; DT: F1,34 = 0.25, P = 0.62), but pair-housed calves responded more positively to ambiguous cues than individually housed calves (χ21 = 6.76, P = 0.009), indicating more positive affective states. This is the first study to demonstrate that pair housing improves the affective aspect of calf welfare when compared to individual housing.

Key animal welfare issues in commercially raised dairy calves: social environment, nutrition, and painful procedures

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joao H.C. Costa ◽  
Melissa C. Cantor ◽  
Nicola A. Adderley ◽  
Heather W. Neave
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Pain Control ◽  
Local Anaesthetics ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Dairy Calf ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Poor Growth ◽  
Individual Housing ◽  
Optimal Health ◽  
Social Companionship

Dairy calf welfare concerns are growing and new evidence suggests that the early life environment influences appropriate physical, behavioral, and cognitive development lasting into adulthood. This review highlights key evidence for the impacts of housing, diets, and painful procedures on calf welfare. We argue that these topics are currently critical welfare concerns, but are not the only points of concern. In addition to environmental requirements to maintain optimal health, dairy calves experience other challenges including social and nutritional restrictions. Individual housing is associated with impaired behavioral development and cognitive ability. Pair and group housing can mitigate some of these negative effects and should be encouraged. Restrictive milk allowances (<15% of body weight) lead to poor growth and hunger; these welfare concerns can be addressed with proper enhanced milk allowances and gradual weaning programs. Finally, dehorning is a critical animal welfare issue when pain control is withheld; calves show negative behavioral, physiological, and emotional responses during and after dehorning. The combined use of local anaesthetics and analgesics can mitigate these effects. An industry shift toward providing social companionship, enhanced milk allowances, and pain control during painful procedures would help to improve the welfare of dairy calves in intensive commercial rearing facilities.

Indication of Social Buffering in Disbudded Calves

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarína Bučková ◽  
Ágnes Moravcsíková ◽  
Radka Šárová ◽  
Radko Rajmon ◽  
Marek Špinka
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Early Ontogeny ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Social Buffering ◽  
Individual Housing ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Paired T Test

Abstract Most dairy calves are housed individually in their early ontogeny but there is an increasing interest in housing calves socially. Social housing has many positive effects on calf welfare including an advantage of social buffering, i.e., when negative effects of stress are mitigated through social support of familiar conspecific. So far, social buffering has not been tested in relation to stress after disbudding, a painful husbandry procedure performed in young calves. Therefore, the effect of pair versus individual housing on calves’ reaction to disbudding was investigated. In total 50 female calves housed either individually (n= 14) or in pairs (n= 36, 18 focal) were used. Calves were hot-iron disbudded with a local anesthetic and their behavior in home pens was recorded 24 h pre- and post-disbudding. Feeding, ruminating, resting, exploration, play, self-grooming, and pain-related behaviors were quantified during eight 20 min intervals during the 24 h periods pre- and post-disbudding. In pair-housed (PAIR) calves social resting, active and passive allo-grooming were additionally recorded. Concentrate intake was measured 24 h pre- and post-disbudding. The changes of pre- and post- disbudding behaviors as well as differences between individually housed (INDI) and PAIR calves were tested by general linear models. The differences in pre- and post-disbudding behaviors of PAIR calves were tested by paired t-test. We found that head rubbing (t=-5.14, P<0.0001) and head shaking (t=-3.33, P=0.004) increased after disbudding. Feeding increased only in PAIR calves (t=-2.95, P=0.016) which also resulted in a difference between treatments with PAIR calves fed more than INDI calves (F1,18=12.27, P=0.003). We did not find any other significant differences. Our results provide the first evidence that housing treatment affects calves' reactions to disbudding, with possible indication of social buffering.

scholarly journals Lysine and Methionine Supplementation for Dairy Calves Is More Accurate through the Liquid than the Solid Diet

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 332
Author(s):  
Jackeline Thais Silva ◽  
Evangelina Miqueo ◽  
Thaís Manzoni Torrezan ◽  
Nathalia Brito Rocha ◽  
Giovana Simão Slanzon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Feed Intake ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Body Measurements ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Intermediate Metabolism ◽  
Lower Body Weight ◽  
Solid Diet ◽  
Holstein Calves ◽  
Methionine Supplementation ◽  
Daily Intakes

This study aimed to evaluate the performance and metabolic changes in dairy calves supplemented with lysine and methionine in milk replacer (MR) or starter concentrate (SC). Male Holstein calves (n = 45) were blocked and distributed in Control without supplementation (1) and; Lysine and Methionine supplementation to achieve an intake of 17 and 5.3 g/d in the SC (2) and to achieve of 17 and 5.3 g/d in the MR (3). MR was fed (6 L/d) until the 8th week of life when weaning occurred. Calves were followed until the 10th week of age. Feed intake was measured daily. Weight and body measurements were registered weekly. Blood samples were collected biweekly to evaluate the intermediate metabolism. The AA supplementation resulted in lower body weight at weaning and week 10. Calves fed SC Lys:Met had lower SC intake and lower total feed intake at weaning when compared to control. Calves fed control had higher heart girth, hip-width, and plasma glucose concentration. The supplementation with Lys and Met did not benefit dairy calves’ performance nor metabolism in this study. Supplementation through the MR was more efficient than SC to result in adequate daily intakes of AA. Further studies are needed to understand the negative effects of AA on calf starter intake.

scholarly journals Temperament, Plasticity, and Emotions in Defensive Behaviour of Paca (Mammalia, Hystricognatha)

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
Selene S. C. Nogueira ◽  
Sérgio L. G. Nogueira-Filho ◽  
José M. B. Duarte ◽  
Michael Mendl
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Status ◽  
Behavioural Plasticity ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Defensive Behaviour ◽  
Rapid Adaptation ◽  
Behavioural Responses ◽  
Judgement Bias ◽  
Temperament Dimension ◽  
Ambiguous Cue

Within a species, some individuals are better able to cope with threatening environments than others. Paca (Cuniculus paca) appear resilient to over-hunting by humans, which may be related to the behavioural plasticity shown by this species. To investigate this, we submitted captive pacas to temperament tests designed to assess individual responses to short challenges and judgement bias tests (JBT) to evaluate individuals’ affective states. Results indicated across-time and context stability in closely correlated “agitated”, “fearful” and “tense” responses; this temperament dimension was labelled “restless”. Individual “restless” scores predicted responses to novelty, although not to simulated chasing and capture by humans in a separate modified defence test battery (MDTB). Restless animals were more likely to show a greater proportion of positive responses to an ambiguous cue during JBT after the MDTB. Plasticity in defensive behaviour was inferred from changes in behavioural responses and apparently rapid adaptation to challenge in the different phases of the MDTB. The results indicate that both temperament and behavioural plasticity may play a role in influencing paca responses to risky situations. Therefore, our study highlights the importance of understanding the role of individual temperament traits and behavioural plasticity in order to better interpret the animals’ conservation status and vulnerabilities.

Helping That Hurts Intended Beneficiaries: A New Perspective on the Dark Side of Helping Organizational Citizenship Behavior

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lennard ◽  
Linn Van Dyne
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Citizenship ◽  
Organizational Citizenship Behavior ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Citizenship Behavior ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
And Behavior

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is essential for organizations to gain and maintain competitive advantage in environments with constantly evolving demands. Although most of the literature implicitly assumes that OCB predicts positive work attitudes, affective states, cognitions, and behavior for employees and organizations, some work raises the question of when OCB fails to produce positive consequences, and scholars have called for a more balanced perspective that acknowledges possible negative consequences of OCB. In this chapter, we focus on the unintended negative outcomes of helping OCB to recipients. More specifically, we consider factors that paradoxically cause positively intended helping to backfire and have negative effects on recipients. To date, most research on outcomes of OCB has focused on performance outcomes. In contrast, we focus on nonperformance outcomes for recipients of helping because nonperformance outcomes are more proximal and can shed light on processes that influence more distal outcomes, such as performance.

scholarly journals Environmental Complexity, but Not Stocking Density, Positively Impacts Affective States of Broiler Chickens

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.G. Anderson ◽  
A.M. Campbell ◽  
A. Crump ◽  
G. Arnott ◽  
L. Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Broiler Chickens ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Stocking Density ◽  
Food Motivation ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Judgement Bias

Abstract Affective state can bias an animal’s judgement. Animals in positive affective states can interpret ambiguous cues more positively (“optimistically”) than animals in negative affective states. Thus, judgement bias tests can determine an animal’s affective state through their responses to ambiguous cues. We tested the effects of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of broiler chickens through a multimodal judgement bias test. Broilers were trained to approach reinforced locations signaled by one color and not to approach unreinforced locations signaled by a different color. Trained birds were tested for latencies to approach three ambiguous cues of intermediate color and location. Broilers discriminated between cues, with shorter latencies to approach ambiguous cues closest to the reinforced cue than cues closest to the unreinforced cue, validating the use of the test in this context. Broilers housed in high-complexity pens approached ambiguous cues faster than birds in low-complexity pens­–an optimistic judgement bias, suggesting the former were in a more positive affective state. Broilers from high-density pens tended to approach all cues faster than birds from low-density pens, possibly because resource competition in their home pen increased food motivation. Overall, our study suggests that environmental complexity improves broilers’ affective states, implying animal welfare benefits of environmental enrichment.

scholarly journals Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Higher Education: Characterizing the Psychosocial Context of the Positive and Negative Affective States Using Classification and Regression Trees

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Romeo ◽  
Montserrat Yepes-Baldó ◽  
Miguel Ángel Soria ◽  
Maria Jayme
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Regression Trees ◽  
Classification And Regression Trees ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Home Work ◽  
Negative Affective States ◽  
Classification And Regression ◽  
Work Interaction ◽  
The Impact

Our aim is to analyze the extent to which the psychosocial aspects can characterize the affective states of the teachers, administrative staff, and undergraduate and postgraduate students during the quarantine. A questionnaire was answered by 1,328 people from the community of the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Spain. The survey was partially designed ad hoc, collecting indicators related to sociodemographic variables, the impact of COVID on the subjects or in their personal context, the psychosocial context of coexistence and perceived social support, characteristics related to the physical context during the quarantine, and labor conditions. Additionally, it included two validated instruments: the Survey Work-Home Interaction–Nijmegen for Spanish Speaking Countries (SWING-SSC) validated in Spanish and PANAS, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were performed to identify which variables better characterize the participants' level of positive and negative affective states. Results according to groups showed that students are the ones who have suffered the most as a result of this situation (temporary employment regulation, higher scores in negative work-home and home-work interaction, lower scores in positive home-work interaction, and negative effects of teleworking). Additionally, they reported a higher mean score in interpersonal conflict and worse scores with regard to negative affective states. Based on sex, women were the ones whose environment was shown to be more frequently affected by the pandemic and who exhibited more negative effects of teleworking. In general terms, participants with the highest scores in negative affective states were those who perceived an increase in conflict and a high negative effect from work spilling over into their personal lives. On the contrary, participants with the highest levels of positive affective states were those with medium to low levels of negative home-work interaction, over 42.5 years old, and with medium to high levels of positive work-home interaction. Our results aim to help higher education to reflect on the need to adapt to this new reality, since the institutions that keep pace with evolving trends will be able to better attract, retain, and engage all the members of the university community in the years ahead.

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