Environmental Enrichment of Calves Using Stationary and Mechanical Brushes
Loading...
Date
2018-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
While there is research on enrichment and brush use in adult cows, there is limited research addressing brush use in calves. The objectives were to substantiate brushes as enrichment devices for calves and determine if exposure to stationary brushes pre-weaning affects brush use post-weaning. Calves were randomly grouped into treatment group B (with brush, n = 10) or treatment group N (no brush, n = 10). During pre-weaning, calves were housed individually in hutches from birth until at least 8 weeks of age, and group B had access to stationary brushes. During post-weaning, calves entered group housing and had access to a mechanical and stationary brush until at least 11 weeks of age. Physical performance characteristics were recorded throughout the trial, and behavior was recorded using video cameras for 12 h/d twice a week. During pre-weaning, treatments had similar ADG (0.610 kg/d), weight (41.8 kg), hip height (75.8 cm), and wither height (72.4 cm). During post-weaning, treatments had similar ADG (0.747 kg/day), changes in hip height (0.212 cm/day), and changes in wither height (0.204 cm/day). This suggests exposure to stationary brushes pre-weaning did not affect growth. In preliminary analysis for 16 calves pre-weaning, group B (n = 8) used stationary brushes for 133.8 s/12 hr, demonstrating that calves utilized stationary brushes as enrichment tools during pre-weaning. The treatments spent similar durations interacting with pen fixtures pre-weaning (434.9 vs. 419.0 ± 98.41 s/12 hr for B and N respectively). In preliminary analysis of 11 calves post-weaning, there was a treatment by week trend for mechanical brush use, indicating that calves exposed to brushes pre-weaning used the mechanical brush quicker post-weaning. The use of the stationary brush post-weaning was minimal, thus we conclude calves preferred the mechanical brush. We expect further analysis to show behavioral differences between treatments, indicating that exposure to a brush pre-weaning affects behavior post-weaning.
Description
Keywords
enrichment, animal behavior, animal welfare, dairy calves