Individual and group level health factors influence social networks of dairy calves.

ABSTRACT: Evidence across species supports a relationship between health and social relationships, which may have important welfare implications for intensively housed animals. We evaluated how individual and group-level health factors are related to social behavior of group-housed dairy calves, using social network analysis. Holstein dairy calves (heifer: n = 55; bull: n = 32) were grouped (9 groups; 10 calves/group) at 2 weeks of age until after weaning from milk at 8 weeks of age. To generate social networks, calf positions were recorded continuously using an ultra-wideband positioning system generating undirected pairwise proximity estimates. Individual status and group-level prevalence of clinical respiratory disease, gastrointestinal illness, and lung consolidation were characterized weekly us

SUBMITTER: Gingerich K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11882799 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature