Behavioral and physiologic responses of dairy calves reared in different types of installations and liquid diet

Abstract

The objective of this study to evaluate the behavioral and physiological responses of Holstein dairy calves submitted to different kinds of installations and liquid diets, during winter. 24 calves were used, divided into four treatments with six replicates. It was collected daily meteorological variables with the measurement of rectal temperature and respiratory rate. It was produced an ethogram, and from that there were behavioral observations of the activities during the daytime, where the occurrence was recorded every five minutes, for 12 hours straight. The experiment was fully randomized, in a factorial designed 2 x 2, two kinds of installations (individual hutches and conventional calf housings) and two kinds of liquid diets (milk and milk replacer), For rectal temperature obtained as a general average 39.3 °C, similar between treatments. Values corresponding to the breathing frequency were similar between treatments (P < 0.05), but note that this physiological variable was higher (P < 0.05) for calves installed in individual hutches, regardless of the liquid diet offered. The behavioral analysis showed that none of the activities was different between animals fed with milk or milk replacer (P > 0.05). The feed intake and idle responses of calves reared in individual hutches were better when compared to those reared in conventional calf housing. It was concluded that calves reared in individual hutches showed satisfactory responses to weather conditions and a behavior indicative of better well-being that the ones maintained in conventional calf housing and may bring with it positive reflections to his performance. Keywords: Individual hutches, calf housing, body temperature, milk replacer.