Effects of housing in different social environments on open-field and social responses of female dairy calves.

摘要

To investigate the effect of social contact during early development on open-field responses and social responses, 80 female dairy calves were housed either in open single pens (SOpen), closed single pens (SClosed), calf-groups (GCalf; 5 calves pergroup), or groups of calves and cows (GCow; 5 cow-calf pairs per group) until 3 months of age. Calves were then open-field tested at 2, 10 and 25 weeks of age. Calves isolated in SClosed performed more exploration during the open-field tests at 2 and 10weeks of age than calves housed in SOpen. During the open-field test after the experimental period (25 weeks), previously isolated calves (SClosed) took longer to enter an open-field arena, and during a social test at this stage group-reared calves (GCalf and GCow) sniffed and mounted other calves more than calves housed in single pens (SOpen and SClosed). It is concluded that isolation increases the motivation to explore a novel environment, and that housing in groups facilitates the development of normal social responses.