Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions.

ABSTRACT: Concerns for farm animal welfare have led to the use of environmental enrichment to stimulate natural behaviours and promote positive emotions. In cattle, the provision of brushes is sometimes recommended but their use in calves and the effects they may have are not well established. The use of precision technologies enables the collection of detailed behavioural data that can be used as welfare indicators. Here we use ultra-wideband location sensors to measure activity and play, along with automatic milk feeders to measure feeding. We assessed the effects of stationary brushes on the behaviour of 226 dairy calves for up to 72 days. Half of the calves had access to the brushes for half of the experimental period. Using a mixed-effects linear model we showed that when brushes were present c

SUBMITTER: Occhiuto F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11794716 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature