Growth, health and lying behavior in fostered versus own calves in a foster cow system on a large organic farm [Datasets and R codes]
Description
In foster cow systems, a cow often nurses her own calf together with additional foster calves. The extent to which the differing relationships between a foster cow and her own versus foster calves affects the calves’ weight gain, health and resting patterns was investigated under commercial farming conditions. Own calves and foster calves were monitored from birth until weaning at approximately 130 days old. Body weight and clinical health impairments were repeatedly recorded, and daily weight gain for different suckling phases was calculated. Lying behavior was recorded using leg-mounted tri-axial accelerometers. Linear mixed models were applied to evaluate the effects of calf status (own vs. foster), suckling phase, and their interaction. Tested variables were a health impairment score, average daily weight gain, weaning weight, as well as lying duration and number of lying bouts per 24 hour period.
License
Except where otherwised noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 4.0 International