Reactions of calves to handling depend on housing condition and previous experience with humans

This study investigated the influence of stockperson’s behaviour and housing conditions on calves’ behavioural reactions to people, and behavioural and physiological reactions to handling and short transport. Sixty-four Finnish Ayrshire male calves were used; half of them were housed in individual p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied animal behaviour science 2001, Vol.70 (3), p.187-199
Main Authors: Lensink, B.J, Raussi, S, Boivin, X, Pyykkönen, M, Veissier, I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural sciences
Cattle-handling
Handling
Heart rate
Housing
Human–animal relationships
Life Sciences
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Summary:This study investigated the influence of stockperson’s behaviour and housing conditions on calves’ behavioural reactions to people, and behavioural and physiological reactions to handling and short transport. Sixty-four Finnish Ayrshire male calves were used; half of them were housed in individual pens, the other half were housed in group pens of two calves. In both housing conditions half of the calves received minimal contact from the stockperson, while the other half were stroked on their necks and shoulders for 90 s a day, after milk meals. The effects of housing and contact with the stockperson on the responses of calves to people, either entering or approaching the pen, were studied. Furthermore, calves’ behavioural and physiological (cortisol, heart rate) reactions to being loaded onto a truck, transported for 30 min and unloaded were observed. When a person entered the home pen, calves housed by pairs took significantly more time to interact and interacted less frequently with the person than individually housed calves did ( p
ISSN:0168-1591
1872-9045
DOI:10.1016/S0168-1591(00)00152-0