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

Francesca Occhiuto, Jorge A. Vázquez-Diosdado, Matthew Thomas, Emma R. Gayner, Andrew King Orcid Logo, Jasmeet Kaler

Scientific Reports, Volume: 15, Issue: 1

Swansea University Author: Andrew King Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1038/s41598-025-88129-7

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 prec...

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Published in: Scientific Reports
ISSN: 2045-2322
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68740
first_indexed 2025-01-27T09:06:15Z
last_indexed 2025-02-27T05:33:48Z
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spelling 2025-02-26T15:29:53.0030918 v2 68740 2025-01-27 Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions cc115b4bc4672840f960acc1cb078642 0000-0002-6870-9767 Andrew King Andrew King true false 2025-01-27 BGPS 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 calves had significantly higher activity, fed slower, had fewer interruptions in their meals and spent less time around the feeder, suggesting reduced competition. Furthermore, calves that had access to brushes during the trial were more active and playful, even on days when the brushes were not available, compared to the control group. This finding indicates for the first time that enrichment may have a lasting effect on calf behaviour and welfare. Journal Article Scientific Reports 15 1 Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2045-2322 4 2 2025 2025-02-04 10.1038/s41598-025-88129-7 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, United Kingdom, project reference: BB/T0083690/1 and BB/W020459/1. 2025-02-26T15:29:53.0030918 2025-01-27T09:02:46.5977693 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Francesca Occhiuto 1 Jorge A. Vázquez-Diosdado 2 Matthew Thomas 3 Emma R. Gayner 4 Andrew King 0000-0002-6870-9767 5 Jasmeet Kaler 6 68740__33505__f1bde207679c4bb9af574d1abde76721.pdf s41598-025-88129-7.pdf 2025-02-05T13:27:28.3558477 Output 1317755 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions
spellingShingle Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions
Andrew King
title_short Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions
title_full Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions
title_fullStr Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions
title_full_unstemmed Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions
title_sort Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions
author_id_str_mv cc115b4bc4672840f960acc1cb078642
author_id_fullname_str_mv cc115b4bc4672840f960acc1cb078642_***_Andrew King
author Andrew King
author2 Francesca Occhiuto
Jorge A. Vázquez-Diosdado
Matthew Thomas
Emma R. Gayner
Andrew King
Jasmeet Kaler
format Journal article
container_title Scientific Reports
container_volume 15
container_issue 1
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2045-2322
doi_str_mv 10.1038/s41598-025-88129-7
publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description 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 calves had significantly higher activity, fed slower, had fewer interruptions in their meals and spent less time around the feeder, suggesting reduced competition. Furthermore, calves that had access to brushes during the trial were more active and playful, even on days when the brushes were not available, compared to the control group. This finding indicates for the first time that enrichment may have a lasting effect on calf behaviour and welfare.
published_date 2025-02-04T05:22:06Z
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