Short project description

Dairy cow and calf are typically separated within 24 h of birth. Nevertheless, there is an increasing interest in management systems where cow and calf are kept together for a prolonged period of time (cow-calf-contact, or CCC, systems). Prolonging CCC promotes growth and normal social behaviour in calves, and studies show that cows experiencing calf contact are highly motivated to maintain close proximity to their calves. CCC thus appears to increase animal welfare. However, CCC systems also pose challenges, for instance reduced milk yield and increased stress at weaning and separation.

Keeping cow and calf together only part of the day has been suggested as a solution for these challenges. However, the daily separation may be perceived as stressful by both cows and calves. The present study will therefore investigate the behaviour of dairy during temporary overnight separations from their calves, and whether the cows habituate to this contact schedule over a period of time.

The thesis project will investigate the behaviour of dairy cows during daily separations from their calves. Behaviour will be registered from videos that have previously been obtained. The student will develop an ethogram, register, and analyse the data. The student will be based in AU Viborg and be part of a large research project.