Rearing of female calves and young cattle in agricultural enterprises Part III Normal behaviour of calves in motherless, intensive rearing

Abstract
The studies on the behaviour of female German Holstein calves in intensive off-cow breeding were carried out in an agricultural enterprise in Mecklen-burg-Vorpommern. The calves were kept in hutches with a run to the end of week 4 at the latest. The calves were moved from week 3 to subsequent group housing in a pen with a litter-covered lying area and concrete running area. The maximum age difference within a group was 4 weeks. The calves were reared with a maximum daily allowance of 12 L CMR-feed up to day 49 and weaned on day 106. Over the entire feeding period, CMR powder (50% skim milk fraction) was used at a concentration of 160 g/L water. Hay and dry total mixed ration (TMR) were used as supplementary feed provided fresh daily ad libitum in racks and troughs with TMR gradually replacing the dry TMR during weaning. The calf pen was fitted with elements to investigate which activity options were preferred by the animals. A tyre freely hanging on a rope with a ball (ball), a cattle brush for calves (brush) and board with four chains (chains) were in-stalled in the pen. It was also investigated whether the calves accepted dum-my teats. The behaviour of the calves was recorded continuously over 24 hours with video cameras from the day they moved into the barn to the day they moved out. In total, data from 13 calves in five rounds over 212 days with 4,569.5 hours of video recordings were coded with the Interact program from Mangold and statistically processed and analysed by week of life (week 3–7 and week 8–15) or day of life (day 50 to 105) with Interact and Excel 2019 MSO from Microsoft (Version 2207). The analysis of behaviour with maximum allowance (12 L CMR-feed per animal up to day 49, n = 9 calves) was carried out for the functional areas rest, food and water-intake, social behaviour (calf–calf contacts), and ‘other activi-ties’, which include exploratory, play, locomotion and elimination behaviours. Exploration (licking of objects) and play were coded, while locomotion (stand-ing without activity, slow and fast running, jumping, galloping) and elimination were calculated from the difference in the duration of the activities and the behaviour coded in this phase and summarised as locomotion behaviour. The use of toys, visits without CMR-feed-intake and sucking activities (cross-sucking, sucking on dummy teats) were assessed separately. From the studies, an ethogram for calves in off-cow rearing can be derived: Circadian rhythm Calves develop a distinct circadian rhythm that underlies almost all behav-iours. The behaviour at night, that is, from 12 midnight to about 6:00 a.m., alternates between long resting phases with brief wake phases for defecation and urination as well as the intake of CMR-feed, supplementary feed and/or water. During the day, from 6:00 a.m. to 12 midnight, the calves alternate between active and resting phases, which are considerably shorter than over-night. Resting behaviour The calves seek out protected places to rest. After a brief interruption, they often lay down in the same place where they had stood up. Young calves rest daily for 14 to 18 hours for an average of 30 to 45 minutes during the day and for 60 to 180 minutes at night. In the mornings and evenings the resting times are somewhat shorter than over midday. Feeding behaviour The sucking behaviour at the dispensing station corresponds to the natural sucking at a cow in terms of the posture, bunting and tail movements as well as the mean number of four to five meals per day. The individual meals last on average four to six minutes with a rising trend. Visits to the dispensing station without milk intake occur briefly up to day 49 and last less than one minute on average. In the week when the calves are adjusting to the free feed-intake, up to four of these blind visits per animal and day are tolerable, thereafter a daily average of one to three up to weaning. In the weaning phase slightly longer blind visits in an increasing number can be considered normal if they do not significantly exceed a daily average of 10 per animal. Up to the end of week 7, calves frequently ingest supplementary feed over the course of the day with only a short eating duration. The number increases to about 20 meals per day and the duration to about three minutes per meal. The calves drink water from the start for about one minute and the frequency and duration increase with the intake of supplementary feed. Individual animals have a distinct sucking need that cannot be satisfied through the feed-intake even with the highest CMR-feed-allowances. If these are isolated cases, cross-sucking of another calf can be tolerated. Sucking calves from a maternal sucking family should be excluded from breeding, however. Dummy teats are accepted by the calves but cannot prevent cross-sucking and are used less than a moveable toy. Social behaviour Calves smell and lick each other, play together and rest closely with one an-other. Hierarchical disputes are not observed before weaning. There were no signs in the behaviour of the young calves that indicate that the calves are stressed by the absence of the mother–child relationship. Locomotion and play behaviour Calves run, jump and gallop around, often together and encouraging each other. Intense activities are often observed in the evening hours. Playful headbutting starts as early as week 2. Calves prefer to use moveable objects that they can make swing as toys. These toys are licked, sucked or sniffed, often by several calves at the same time. Locomotion and play behaviour can be summarised as ‘other behav-iours’ to evaluate the well-being of calves. The daily average of the percent-age of the active time spent on these behaviours should be at least 80% up to weaning. When weaning, the percentage decreases because of the increas-ing intake of supplementary feed but should not be less than 60% of the ac-tivities. Weaning Moderate weaning is recommended from the perspective of animal behav-iour so that the animals rest for long periods, only make few unrewarded visits to the dispensing station and are ensured of having a high supplementary feed-intake upon weaning. Because the maximum milk replacer allowance must be provided up to day 49, this results in a recommended weaning age of at least 105 days.

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