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Lookup NU author(s): Jim Clapp, Chris Dolphin
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Dairy calf welfare is recognised to be compromised from common management practices. In this study heart rate variability (HRV) was used to measure stress in 25 young dairy calves to quantify the degraded welfare they experienced from weaning separation and isolation also the painful disbudding procedure. It was shown the time spent on the cow before separation had a significant negative correlation to HRV (r2 = -0.68, p = 0.03). The longer a calf spent in isolation the lower its HRV three days after joining a group pen (p = 0.037). The removal of a dummy teat elicited a significant drop in HRV (p = 0.05), identifying the addictive properties of sucking in calves. Post disbudding stress, reflected by declining HRV values, was only partly alleviated by the NSAID meloxicam after 48hrs. The findings showed calf welfare would be improved by reducing the time between birth and separation also the days spent in single pens. Providing dummy teats for individually housed calves showed potential as a positive environmental enrichment. Meloxicam may improve welfare by alleviating some chronic pain following hot iron disbudding. We conclude these findings illustrate that HRV, as a science-based animal-centric biomarker of animal welfare, may be used to help improve farmed animal practice.
Author(s): Clapp JB, Croarkin S, Dolphin C, Lyons SK
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Animal Production Science
Year: 2014
Online publication date: 21/10/2014
Acceptance date: 08/08/2014
ISSN (print): 1836-0939
ISSN (electronic): 1836-5787
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AN14093
DOI: 10.1071/AN14093
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