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Kalvestell blant produsenter av økologisk melk i Norge og Sverige. Resultater fra en spørreundersøkelse
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This report shows the results of a survey conducted as part of the project: Developing robust and economically viable models for cow-calf suckling in organic dairy systems, fulfilling high standards for animal health, welfare and ethics (The Cow-calf project - RCN project number 190424). The survey was
conducted as a mail survey (QuestBack™) during the autumn and winter of 2011. The target group was Norwegian and Swedish producers of organic milk who, through a previously conducted survey, had agreed to participate. A total of 84 (54%) Norwegian and 49 (40%) Swedish producers replied to the questionnaire. The survey consisted of 59 questions divided into the themes calf feeding, practical issues related to milking, calf housing, cow-calf separation, weaning from milk, views on organic farming and organic meat. The aim of the survey was to characterise and compare the procedures and practices of Norwegian and Swedish producers of organic milk, as well as to investigate their views on organic farming.
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... The total number of organic farms in most European countries practising dam rearing is unknown (Kälber & Barth 2014). In Norway and Sweden, respectively, 18% and 22% of the organic dairy farmers let the calves suckle beyond the mandatory 3 days (now 1 day for Sweden), mostly for one week, but some for an extended period up to the age of 13 weeks ( Ellingsen et al. 2015;Johnsen et al. 2016). A Dutch survey showed that 30% of the bio-dynamic dairy farmers let cow and calf for at least 2 months up to 4 months together (Wenker 2016). ...
Two factors presumed to affect the behavioural response of cattle (Bos taurus) to artificial weaning were investigated: the termination of nursing, and the physical separation of cows and calves. A two-stage process was used to disconnect these traditionally linked components. First, the behaviour of cows and calves was quantified in response to preventing nursing by having calves wear an antisucking device (Stage 1). Then the behavioural response of cows and calves to being separated was observed (Stage 2). Control pairs were weaned abruptly; nursing ended when cows and calves were separated. Preventing nursing while pairs were still together had almost no effect on measures of general activity with the exception of causing a slight increase in the rate of vocalizing. Calves wearing antisucking devices spent the same amount of time eating as controls. The behavioural responses of two-stage pairs to separation were favourably reduced compared to controls. In one study, two-stage cows vocalized 84% less than controls, spent 60% less time walking, and 13% more time lying, compared to controls. Two-stage calves called 97% less than controls, spent 61% less time walking, and 30% more time eating. In another study, preventing nursing for longer (3 versus 14 d) had no noticeable beneficial effects on the behaviour response to separation. In three separate trials two-stage calves gained more weight during the first week after separation from their dams. The two-stage process further reduced the behaviour responses when compared to weaning by fenceline contact. The benefits of two-stage weaning were also observed with dairy calves weaned from their dams at 5 weeks of age. The combined results of these studies indicate that the traditional method of weaning, by simultaneously terminating nursing and separating pairs, exacerbates the behavioural responses of cows and calves. Imposing these in two separate stages did not produce the same additive effect suggesting that the traditional weaning method produces a negative synergistic effect on the behaviour response. Based on the evidence two-stage weaning offers a viable production practice that is likely to improve the welfare of cows and calves.
Dairy calves have traditionally been kept in individual pens throughout the milk-feeding period. Social rearing is associated with increased solid feed intake and, hence, higher weight gains before and after weaning. Little is known about the effect of the age at which social housing begins. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of early versus late pairing on feeding behavior and weight gain before and after weaning. Holstein bull calves were reared individually (n = 8 calves) or paired with another calf at 6 ± 3 d (n = 8 pairs) or 43 ± 3 d of age (n = 8 pairs). All calves were fed 8 L of milk/d for 4 wk, 6 L/d from 4 to 7 wk, and then milk was reduced by 20%/d until calves were completely weaned at 8 wk of age. Calves were provided ad libitum access to calf starter and a total mixed ration (TMR). Body weight and feed intake were measured weekly from 3 to 10 wk of age. Intake of calf starter was significantly higher for the early-paired calves than for individually reared and late-paired calves throughout the experimental period. At 10 wk of age, starter dry matter intake averaged 2.20 ± 0.22, 1.09 ± 0.25, and 1.26 ± 0.33 kg/d for early-paired, late-paired, and individually housed calves, respectively. Intake of TMR did not differ among treatments, TMR dry matter intake averaged 3.27 ± 0.72, 3.08 ± 0.46, and 2.89 ± 0.54 kg/d for the same 3 treatments. Calves in the early paired treatment also showed significantly higher average daily gain over the experimental period (0.89 ± 0.04 vs. 0.76 ± 0.04 and 0.73 ± 0.04 kg/d for the early-paired, individual, and late-paired calves, respectively). These results indicate that social housing soon after birth can increase weight gains and intake of solid feed.
Copyright © 2015 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Dairy calves are often separated from the cow soon after birth and prevented from nursing, but little is known about the effects of nursing on the development of the cow-calf bond. This study evaluated the effect of nursing on affiliative behaviours between the dam and her calf including allogrooming, proximity and latency to reunite after a period of separation. Holstein cow-calf pairs were randomly allocated to three treatments differing only in nutritional dependency on the dam: milk feeder (n = 10 pairs), combined (n = 10 pairs) or nursing (n = 10 pairs). Milk feeder calves could feed ad libitum from an automated milk-feeder, combined calves could suckle from their dams at night and could feed ad libitum from an automated milk feeder and nursing calves could suckle from their dams at night. Cows and calves were kept together during the night (between 20:00 h and 08:00 h) and were housed adjacent to each other during the day (between 08:00 h and 20:00 h). Direct live observations were performed 2 h following the opening of the gate that allowed calves to mix with cows at night. All pairs spent more time (% of observations) allogrooming each other (i.e. own cow/calf) than they did grooming other cows and calves within the same group (10 ± 0.8% vs. 0.4 ± 0.7%, t29 = 168.8, P < 0.001). The time cow-calf pairs spent allogrooming did not vary with treatment; 10.0 ± 0.8%, F2, 27 =0.4, P = 0.696). Similarly, time spent in close proximity without nursing did not differ among treatments; 31 ± 2.6% F2, 27 =0.6, P = 0.543). The percentage of occasions a pair did not reunite (i.e. not observed within 1 m of each other within 3 min) was 23% for the milk feeder pairs, 38% for the combined pairs and 32% for the nursing pairs (χ2 = 3.9, P = 0.415). Nevertheless suckling from another cow than own dam was observed at least once by 19 of the 20 calves that were allowed to suckle. Latency to reunite (among pairs that did so within 180 s) was highest for the combined pairs and tended to be lower for milk feeder and nursing calves; 52.5 ± 16.0, 23.3 ± 8.3 and 12.9 ± 5.8; F 2, 24 = 3.1, P = 0.062). These results indicate that dam and calf form a bond independent of nursing.
Materials & Methods The study compared two separation methods (Fig. 1). The barrier between the cows and calves after separation consisted either of an open fence (FL) allowing physical contact between cow and calf, or an opaque, two meter high wall (A), allowing only auditory (and olfactory) contact. Two cow-calf pairs were separated at a time at eight weeks and the test animals were allocated to one of the two treatments. Behaviour of cow and calf was recorded by manual observation using a combination of instantaneous recording every 5th minute and continuous recording for 2x2 hours at day 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 after separation. Calves were bottle fed 3x2 litres of milk per day after separation and were fed just before observation periods. Results Preliminary analyses show that FL significantly reduced high pitched vocalization at day O, 1, 2, 3 and 4 (p<0.05) (Fig. 2). For calves FL also resulted in less alert behaviour including restless walking and more time lying (p<0.001). FL cows rested and ruminated more (p<0.001). Following the days of separation, FL calves resumed behaviour comparable to "baseline behaviour" sooner. Fig.1. Schematic presentation of the two separation methods: The barrier between the cows and calves after separation consisted either of an open fence (FL) or an opaque, two meter high wall (A).
The aim of this experiment was to compare the behavioural responses and weight change of beef calves weaned using three weaning methods. Forty-eight primiparous Hereford or Hereford×Angus nursing beef calves (180.7±1.3days old; mean±SEM) were assigned to one of three treatments: 1) CON: weaned abruptly on day 0; 2) FEN: calves were separated by fence line from dams on day −17 but remained in visual sight of one another; or 3) NF: cows and calves remained together but suckling was prevented on day −17 by inserting a nose-flap anti-suckling device. In all treatments remote physical separation of the cow and calf took place on day 0. Behaviours were recorded by instantaneous sampling from day −20 to day −13, and from day −3 to day 5, except on day 0. Distance between cows and calves and the fence line in FEN calves and between the dyads in NF calves were recorded from day −17 to day −13. Body weights of calves were recorded on days −24, −11, 0, 7 and 21. There was a day and treatment by day interaction for all behaviours. Behavioural responses were strongest during the first 2days after fence line separation in the FEN calves and after remote separation in the CON calves. For the NF calves, behavioural effects were observed immediately after insertion of the nose-flaps, including numerous unrewarded suckling events, and again when remote physical separation took place. Overall the FEN calves vocalized (P
This study investigated the behavioural effects of separating the dairy calf from its mother at birth or after 4 days and how the mother-young attachment and suckling behaviour developed during these 4 days post partum (p.p.). Observations were made during 2 h sampling sessions per day on 33 Swedish Red and White and 6 Swedish Friesian mother young pairs. They were either kept together during 96 h (treatment T n = 24) in a calving pen (11 m2) or separated immediately p.p. (treatment S n = 15) with the cow kept in the calving pen and the calf placed in a single crate (1.2 m2) at a distance of 5 m from the cow and in sight of each other. Calves on treatment T were standing earlier p.p. than calves on treatment S (60 vs. 201 min p.p., P ≤ 0.05). However, seven of these calves (32%) did not suckle successfully within 4 h. p.p. Mean duration until placenta expulsion was 245 min and 77% of the cows showed placentophagia, but there were no effects of treatment. During the 2 h p.p. cows on treatment T vocalised more often (P ≤ 0.001), were lying less (P ≤ 0.001), were less inactive (P ≤ 0.05) and performed less oral behaviour (P ≤ 0.01) than cows on treatment S. Calves on treatment T vocalised less often during all 4 days p.p. (P ≤ 0.001) and licked themselves less often during the second, third and fourth day p.p. (P ≤ 0.05) than calves on treatment S. When the calf was separated at 96 h, cows on treatment T vocalised more often (P ≤ 0.001), were lying less (P ≤ 0.05) and ruminated less (P ≤ 0.01) than did cows on treatment S. Calves on treatment T were lying less (P ≤ 0.01) and performed more oral behaviour (P ≤ 0.05) after separation than did calves on treatment S. Cows on treatment T were within 1 m of the calf during most observations, but this decreased during the 4 days p.p. (P ≤ 0.01). Maternal sniffing and licking was most common during the first 2 h p.p., and decreased during the 4 days (P ≤ 0.0001). Total suckling time per 24 h decreased during the first 4 days (P ≤ 0.01), but suckling frequency and bout duration did not change over the 4 days. The conclusion from this study is that both cow and calf are stimulated to higher activity immediately post partum when kept together, but that separation after 4 days has an effect on some behaviours of both cows and calves.
Dairy calves are typically fed only about half of their ad libitum milk intake and are highly motivated to drink more milk. The aim of the current study was to describe the behaviours associated with milk hunger in dairy calves, by comparing animals fed restricted quantities of milk (two milk meals weighing a total of 10% of the calf's body weight; n = 12) or provided milk ad libitum (n = 12). Calves were kept in groups of four and observed from 8 to 14 days of age. Treatment was assigned within group using a computerized milk feeder. Calves fed milk ad libitum gained about four times more weight (P < 0.001) and ingested twice as much milk as the restricted-fed calves (P < 0.001). The restricted-fed calves performed on average 24 unrewarded visits/day to the milk feeder (i.e. visited the feeder but received no milk), 12-times more than the calves fed milk ad libitum (P < 0.001). During rewarded visits, calves fed restricted quantities of milk spent twice as much time on the teat (P < 0.001) and consumed the total amount of milk available in a single nutritive sucking bout that was followed by short non-nutritive sucking bouts. Restricted-fed calves spent 1 h longer standing/day than the calves fed milk ad libitum (P = 0.05), and were more likely to displace other calves from the feeder. Thus, calves fed restricted quantities of milk ingested their available milk allotment more rapidly during a rewarded visit, were more active, more competitive and spent more time at the feeder, indicating that these behaviours can be useful in identifying milk-feeding practices that cause hunger in dairy calves.