Good Handling Practices Have Positive Impacts on Dairy Calf Welfare
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Experimental Protocol
2.2. Animal Welfare Assessment
2.2.1. Health Indicators
2.2.2. Physiological Indicators
2.2.3. Behavioral Indicators
2.2.4. Performance Indicators
2.3. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
3.1. Health Indicators
3.2. Physiological Indicators
3.3. Behavioral Indicators
3.4. Performance Indicators
4. Discussion
4.1. Health Indicators
4.2. Physiological Indicators
4.3. Behavioral Indicators
4.4. Performance Indicators
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Animal Welfare Indicators (Dependent Variables) |
---|
Health indicators |
Plasma glucose concentration (Glucose, mg/dL) |
Plasma IgG concentration (IgG, mg/mL) |
Occurrence of diarrhea (Diarrhea, yes or no) Occurrence of pneumonia (Pneumonia, yes or no) |
Occurrence of tick-borne disease (TBD, yes or no) |
Occurrence of death (Death, alive or dead) |
Physiology indicators |
Heart rate (HR, bpm) |
Respiratory rate (RR, breaths/min) |
Rectal temperature (RT, °C) |
Behavior indicators |
Flight distance (FD, m) |
Latency for the calf’s first movement during a docility test (LM, s) |
Latency to hold the calf in a pen corner during a docility test (LH, s) |
Total time that the calf allowed to be touched during a docility test (TTT, s) |
Performance indicators |
Body weight (BW, kg) at 30, 60, weaning, 90, and 120 days of age |
Average daily gain (ADG, kg/day), from birth to 30 days and from 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120 days of age |
Weaning success at 70 days of age (WS, yes or no) |
Health Indicators | Frequency (%) | OR (SEM) | CI (95%) | p Values |
---|---|---|---|---|
Diarrhea | ||||
Intercept | - | 2.00 | 0.06–0.56 | 0.005 |
GHP | 15.00 | 0.84 | 0.15–4.33 | 0.832 |
CH | 17.40 | Ref. | Ref. | Ref. |
Death | ||||
Intercept | - | 0.14 | 0.03–0.39 | 0.001 |
GHP | 4.35 | 0.33 | 0.02–2.83 | 0.357 |
CH | 12.00 | Ref | Ref. | Ref. |
Treatment | Calf Age (Days) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
30 | 60 | 90 | 120 | |
HR, bpm | ||||
GHP | 80.00b ± 3.67 | 85.70b ± 3.67 | 84.50b ± 3.67 | 82.20b± 3.76 |
CH | 104.60a ± 3.77 | 96.20ab ± 3.77 | 93.00ab ± 3.87 | 95.30ab ± 3.87 |
Independent Variable | Behavioral Indicators | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
FD | LM | LH | TTT | |
Treatment | ||||
GHP | 0.45b ± 0.09 | 8.59a ± 1.59 | 45.10b ± 5.19 | 53.60a ± 2.78 |
CH | 1.02a ± 0.09 | 10.30a ± 1.59 | 66.40a ± 5.28 | 41.30b ± 3.10 |
Calf age | ||||
30 | 0.62b ± 0.09 | 5.28b ± 1.62 | 37.10b ± 6.60 | 52.20a ± 2.99 |
60 | 0.90a ± 0.09 | 9.27a ± 1.58 | 38.90b ± 6.87 | 52.60a ± 3.41 |
90 | 0.76ab ± 0.09 | 11.52a ± 1.69 | 73.40a ± 6.98 | 41.90b ± 3.50 |
120 | 0.72ab ± 0.09 | 11.72a ± 1.83 | 41.90b ± 7.20 | 43.00b ± 3.63 |
Performance Indicators | Calf Age (Days) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
30 | 60 | 90 | 120 | |
BW | 46.50d ± 1.26 | 59.70c ± 1.26 | 85.90b ± 1.26 | 105.20a ± 1.26 |
ADG | 0.230c ± 0.02 | 0.340b ± 0.02 | 0.520a ± 0.02 | 0.550a ± 0.02 |
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Silva-Antunes, L.C.M.; Ceballos, M.C.; Negrão, J.A.; Paranhos da Costa, M.J.R. Good Handling Practices Have Positive Impacts on Dairy Calf Welfare. Dairy 2024, 5, 295-307. https://doi.org/10.3390/dairy5020024
Silva-Antunes LCM, Ceballos MC, Negrão JA, Paranhos da Costa MJR. Good Handling Practices Have Positive Impacts on Dairy Calf Welfare. Dairy. 2024; 5(2):295-307. https://doi.org/10.3390/dairy5020024
Chicago/Turabian StyleSilva-Antunes, Lívia C. M., Maria Camila Ceballos, João A. Negrão, and Mateus J. R. Paranhos da Costa. 2024. "Good Handling Practices Have Positive Impacts on Dairy Calf Welfare" Dairy 5, no. 2: 295-307. https://doi.org/10.3390/dairy5020024