Ensuring good welfare around calving in dairy cattle

The calving process and the days around the event are stressful for the high-yielding dairy cow. Scientists are investigating how to get the cow and the calf through this difficult period with as few problems and as little stress as possible.

In a modern dairy production, cow and calf are separated already at birth. Scientists will examine the effect of housing them together for the first period after calving. Ways of separating the two with minimal stress are also being investigated. Photo: Janne Hansen

She lies down, stands up, walks restlessly around and lies down again. She isolates herself from her flock. This behaviour is typical for a cow close to calving. In a modern dairy production the cow is typically moved to a calving box immediately before she gives birth. Here she calves, but is back among her sisters within a very short time. Her calf is moved to an individual calf pen and it is unlikely that it will see its mother again.

There are no ifs and buts about it – at some point mother and offspring will have to be separated from each other. For some animals this period is counted in weeks, for others in months or years. In modern dairy cows the weaning typically takes place within 24 hours of birth. This practice has both advantages and disadvantages.

What is the best procedure when you have to take into account both animal health, welfare and milk production? This is what scientists from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at Aarhus University intend to find out. The aim is to come up with proposals for housing design and management routines that incorporate health, welfare and production aspects based on results from the project.

Lack of knowledge on behaviour

In the project recently initiated at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences the scientists will record how the cows behave around the time of calving and how the calves behave during the first few weeks of their life. They will examine the effect of the early contact between cow and calf and identify methods to minimise the stress inflicted when cow and calf are separated. The project also includes an assessment of the health effects of different management routines.

- There is a lack of knowledge about the behavioural needs of the cow in the period around calving and about housing and management effects on behaviour and health, says senior scientist Margit Bak Jensen from the Department of Animal Health and Bioscience at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences.

- A period of time in the calving box following the calving would give the cow an opportunity to rest and eat without competition from other cows. This probably has a positive effect on her behaviour and health, but we lack more detailed knowledge of how best to ensure cow welfare following calving, she explains.

Contact between cow and calf during the first hours or days following the birth may also have a positive effect on the subsequent health and behaviour of the calf. But, on the other hand, it may be more stressful for the cow and calf to be separated when they have been together for a longer period.

Possibly weaning will proceed more smoothly if housing and management are adjusted. The project will therefore look at how to reduce the stress at separation through changes in housing design and management. Furthermore, the project will investigate if the calf’s welfare may be ensured even when it is separated from its mother immediately following birth.