Artificial Grooming during Early Life could Boost the Activity and Human Affinity of Holstein Female Calves
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Animals and Husbandry Management
2.2. Experimental Treatments
2.3. Daily Behavioral Observation
2.4. Behavioral Tests
2.5. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Behavior around Evening Milk Feeding
3.2. Behavior in the Open Field Test
3.3. Behavior in the Novel Human Test
3.4. Percentage of Calves Ingesting Starter Diet
4. Discussion
4.1. General Activity and Playing
4.2. Oral Activity
4.3. Starter Diet Ingestion
4.4. Human Affinity
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Session | Behavior | Definition |
---|---|---|
Around evening milk feeding time | Lying | Body in contact with bedding, or in the process of lying down or standing up |
Standing | Upright with 3 to 4 hooves in contact with bedding, supporting the weight of the body without quick head movement and any oral activities | |
Object sniffing | Muzzle in physical contact or close with any object in the hutch and exercise area | |
Walking | Slowly moving forward or backward without any head activities | |
Self-grooming | Licking (tongue in contact with fur) or scratching (hind leg lifted from the ground and hoof in contact with fur) any part of own body or head | |
Butting | Quickly force pushing the head against any object or in the air | |
Jump-running | Both forelegs (hind legs) are lifted from the ground and stretched forward (backward) followed with continuous running in circles, back and forth or with constant changes in direction; both gallop and trot are included | |
Object S/L | Sucking or licking any object in the hutch and exercise area | |
Eliminating | Excretion and/or urination | |
Object rubbing | Forehead moving up and down rhythmically against any object in the hutch and exercise area | |
Open field test | Standing | See above |
Object sniffing | Muzzle in physical contact or close with any object in the arena | |
Walking | See above | |
Self-grooming | See above | |
Eliminating | See above | |
Novel human test | Standing | See above |
Standing-S | Staring at the human while standing | |
Object sniffing | Muzzle in physical contact or close with any object in the arena | |
Human sniffing | Muzzle in physical contact or close with the human | |
Walking | See above | |
Self-grooming | See above | |
Jump-running | See above | |
Human R/L | Forehead moving up and down rhythmically against the human or licking the human |
Behavior | Per | Day 4 | Day 6 | SEM | p-Value | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Con | AG | Con | AG | Per | D | Tr | Per*D | Per*Tr | D*Tr | |||
Lying | Be-EMF | 303.3 | 288.5 | 296.3 | 238.0 | 28.9 | *** | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 23.1 | 26.5 | 52.0 | 41.3 | 12.6 | |||||||
Standing | Be-EMF | 214.1 | 207.1 | 170.3 | 203.9 | 19.6 | *** | † | ns | ns | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 320.7 | 297.7 | 274.4 | 247.8 | 13.4 | |||||||
Walking | Be-EMF | 16.9 b | 27.1 a | 11.4 b | 26.6 a | 2.1 | ** | * | * | ns | * | ns |
Af-EMF | 31.6 | 34.3 | 21.8 | 18.8 | 2.0 | |||||||
Jump-running | Be-EMF | 1.8 b | 12.2 a | 3.3 b | 10.4 a | 1.8 | *** | ns | * | ** | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 24.6 b | 59.9 a | 18.2b | 27.0 a | 4.4 | |||||||
Object sniffing | Be-EMF | 37.7 | 38.5 | 76.4 | 86.7 | 9.5 | *** | † | ns | ns | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 114.4 | 103.4 | 129.4 | 109.8 | 7.4 | |||||||
Object rubbing | Be-EMF | 0.0 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 | ** | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 6.4 | 2.8 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 1.5 | |||||||
Object S/L | Be-EMF | 0.0 b | 3.6 a | 0.1 b | 3.4 a | 0.8 | *** | † | * | ns | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 2.1 b | 6.1 a | 26.8 b | 30.8 a | 6.8 | |||||||
Butting | Be-EMF | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | *** | † | ns | ns | * | ns |
Af-EMF | 1.2 b | 4.9 a | 0.5 b | 2.2 a | 1.4 | |||||||
Self-grooming | Be-EMF | 11.1 | 19.5 | 27.9 | 13.1 | 3.4 | *** | ns | ns | ** | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 65.9 | 66.6 | 37.9 | 53.8 | 5.4 | |||||||
Eliminating | Be-EMF | 14.7 | 3.2 | 9.9 | 14.4 | 3.1 | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
Af-EMF | 10.0 | 5.3 | 16.1 | 9.6 | 3.1 |
Behavior | Per | Day 4 | Day 6 | SEM | p-Value | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Con | AG | Con | AG | Per | D | Tr | Per*D | Per*Tr | D*Tr | ||||
Lying | Be-EMF | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | *** | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | ||||||||
Standing | Be-EMF | 8.4 | 10.5 | 7.2 | 11.5 | 1.0 | *** | * | ns | ns | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 22.0 | 23.6 | 17.8 | 17.5 | 1.0 | ||||||||
Walking | Be-EMF | 5.1 b | 6.5 a | 3.3 b | 6.7 a | 0.6 | ** | * | ns | ns | * | ns | |
Af-EMF | 8.1 | 8.5 | 6.9 | 5.3 | 0.5 | ||||||||
Jump-running | Be-EMF | 0.6 b | 2.9 a | 1.2 b | 3.3 a | 0.5 | *** | ns | ** | * | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 7.4 b | 13.7 a | 5.5 b | 8.3 a | 1.2 | ||||||||
Object sniffing | Be-EMF | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 6.0 | 0.6 | *** | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 10.6 | 10.8 | 9.8 | 9.7 | 0.6 | ||||||||
Object rubbing | Be-EMF | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ** | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | ||||||||
Object S/L | Be-EMF | 0.0 b | 0.1 a | 0.1 b | 0.3 a | 0.1 | *** | † | * | ns | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 0.3 b | 0.7 a | 0.6 b | 1.7 a | 0.2 | ||||||||
Butting | Be-EMF | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | *** | * | ns | ns | † | ns | |
Af-EMF | 1.0 | 3.6 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 0.2 | ||||||||
Self-grooming | Be-EMF | 1.6 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 0.2 | *** | * | ns | ** | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 7.5 | 7.5 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 0.5 | ||||||||
Eliminating | Be-EMF | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | |
Af-EMF | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
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Li, C.; Wang, J.; Jin, S.; Gu, X. Artificial Grooming during Early Life could Boost the Activity and Human Affinity of Holstein Female Calves. Animals 2020, 10, 302. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020302
Li C, Wang J, Jin S, Gu X. Artificial Grooming during Early Life could Boost the Activity and Human Affinity of Holstein Female Calves. Animals. 2020; 10(2):302. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020302
Chicago/Turabian StyleLi, Congcong, Jian Wang, Shuang Jin, and Xianhong Gu. 2020. "Artificial Grooming during Early Life could Boost the Activity and Human Affinity of Holstein Female Calves" Animals 10, no. 2: 302. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020302
APA StyleLi, C., Wang, J., Jin, S., & Gu, X. (2020). Artificial Grooming during Early Life could Boost the Activity and Human Affinity of Holstein Female Calves. Animals, 10(2), 302. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020302