Two-step weaning in beef calves: permanence of nose flaps for 7 or 21 days does not influence the behaviour response

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1 CSIRO PUBLISHING Animal Production Science Two-step weaning in beef calves: permanence of nose flaps for 7 or 21 days does not influence the behaviour response P. Alvez A, G. Quintans B, M. J. Hötzel C and R. Ungerfeld A,D A Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Veterinaria, Montevideo, Uruguay. B Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, Treinta y Tres, Uruguay. C Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. D Corresponding author. rungerfeld@gmail.com Abstract. Two-step weaning with nose flaps is used to minimise the stress of weaning in beef calves. Farmers leave the nose flaps for 7 3 days, basing the period on practical considerations. Thus, the objective of this study was to compare the behavioural response of 6-month-old beef calvesfitted with nose flaps during 7 or 21 days before permanent separation from the dam, or abruptly weaned. Angus Hereford cow-calf pairs were assigned to: (1) calves fitted with nose flaps on Day 7 and permanently separated from their mothers on Day (NF7), (2) calves fitted with nose flaps on Day 21 and permanently separated from their mothers on Day (NF21), and (3) calves abruptly weaned on Day (CON). Behaviours (standing, lying, walking pacing, grazing, ruminating and vocalisations) were recorded during 3 days before and 5 days after permanent separation from the dam. On Days 1 3, standing and grazing behaviours decreased, whereas walking, pacing and vocalising increased in CON calves but not in NF7 or NF21 calves. Control calves differed from NF7 and NF21 calves for all these behaviours. The two nose flap treatments differed only on Day 1, when the changes in the frequency of walking, lying and standing were smaller in NF7 than NF21 calves. In conclusion, nose flaps can be used for periods from 7 to 21 days before permanent separation from the dam, diminishing the behavioural indicators of distress provoked by weaning. Additional keywords: animal welfare, nursing, stress, suckling, vocalisation. Received 17 June 214, accepted 5 October 214, published online 12 February 215 Introduction Natural weaning involves slow changes in diet and a decrease in the strength of the dam calf relationship, allowing a gradual independence of the young from the dam (Martin 1984; Weary et al. 28). Natural weaning in general starts when milk provides only 4% to 5% of the nutritional requirements of the young (Lee et al. 1991) and, in cattle, it occurs between 7 and 14 months after birth (Reinhardt and Reinhardt 1981). However, in commercial farms weaning is done earlier, and usually involves abrupt and simultaneous changes in diet and in the social environment. In these conditions weaning provokes a behavioural (Veissier et al. 199; Price et al. 23; Haley et al. 25), physiological (Lefcourt and Elsasser 1995; Hickey et al. 23; Lynch et al. 21), and emotional (Daros et al. 214) response in calves, and loss in liveweight gain (Price et al. 23; Haley et al. 25). The behavioural response of abruptly weaned calves involves a marked increase in physical activity, including a peak on pacing and vocalising frequencies, and a reduction in the time spent grazing (Haley et al. 25; Ungerfeld et al. 29; Enríquez et al. 21). Two-step weaning methods are used to reduce the stress response of abrupt weaning mimicking the natural weaning Journal compilation CSIRO 215 process. These methods provoke the end of lactation before the social separation from the dam (Weary et al. 28; Enríquez et al. 211). The objective of two-step weaning with nose flaps is to allow the full transition from a mixed solid and milk diet to an exclusively solid diet while the calf is still in social contact with the dam. This may be done with the aid of nose flaps, plastic devices commonly used in the southern cone of South America that prevent calves from suckling, while allowing them to graze, eat and drink water (see picture in Enríquez et al. 21). In extensive grazing systems as those predominant in Uruguay, farmers that wean their beef caves in two steps with nose flaps place the devices for periods that vary from 7 to 3 days before permanent separation from their dams, choosing the period based on practical convenience (G. Quintans, pers. obs.). However, the period of permanence of the nose flaps could influence the response at separation. For example, during the first 3 days after placing the nose flaps on calves the frequencies of suckling attempts and vocalisations increase and calves spend more time close to the dam (Enríquez et al. 21), suggesting that calves need a longer period to adapt to the loss of milk and sucking. Haley et al. (25) recommend short periods with the

2 B Animal Production Science P. Alvez et al. nose flaps, based on their finding that calves that wore nose flaps for 3 days had better weight gains and spent less time walking and lying down after permanent separation than those that wore nose flaps for 14 days. However, the changes in diet were different in that study, as calves were housed in drylot pens and fed grass hay after separation from the dam, as opposed to extensive systems, where calves remain on pasture after weaning. In this trial, we compared the behavioural response after permanent separation of 6-month-old beef calves grazing native pastures that were abruptly weaned or wore nose flaps during 7 or 21 days. Materials and methods Animals and management The experiment was conducted on the Experimental Farm Palo a Pique (INIA Treinta y Tres; 34 S, Uruguay), between April and May (autumn), with 3 pairs of Angus Hereford cow-calves. Calves were days old (mean s.e.m.) at the beginning of the experiment. Two days before the experiment began calves were weighed ( kg) and assigned to three homogeneous groups according to age, sex and bodyweight (n = 1 each). Each group was moved 1 days before the beginning of the experiment to a 6-ha paddock of similar forage availability, where they remained throughout the entire experiment. Treatments Calves were assigned to one of three treatments: (1) calves were fitted with nose flaps on Day 7 and permanently separated from their mothers on Day (NF7), (2) calves were fitted with nose flaps on Day 21 and permanently separated from their mothers on Day (NF21), and (3) a control group of calves were abruptly weaned on Day, remaining 24 h on a pen before returning to their original paddock (CON). Behavioural recordings Behaviours were recorded using instantaneous sampling of individual calves in each group every 1 min. Data were recorded 38 times/day, from 8 hours to 11 hours, and 15 hours to 18 hours, by three trained observers, who reversed the groups among observation periods. Recordings were carried out from Day 3 to Day 5 in the three groups. Standing, lying, walking, pacing, and grazing were recorded according to Enríquez et al. (21). Vocalisations were Table 1. Significance of fixed effects in behaviours recorded since 3 days before and until 5 days after definitive separation from the dam in calves that were weaned abruptly on Day, or placed with a nose flap 7 or 21 days before n.s., not significant Treatment Day Treatment*Day Standing <.1 <.1 <.1 Lying n.s Walking.5 <.1.8 Pacing <.1 <.1 <.1 Grazing.26 <.1 <.1 Vocalisations <.1 <.1 < (a) a b b c a 1 (b) ab c a bd d Walking (%) Standing (%) (c) a b a b a b 1 (d) a a b c a Lying (%) 1 5 Grazing (%) 8 6 BPS BPS Time (days) Fig. 1. Frequency of observations in which 6-month-old calves were (a) walking (b), standing, (c) lying, (d) grazing. Calves were weaned abruptly on Day (group CON: -*-), or a nose flap was placed 7 (group NF7: -~-) or 21 (group NF21: - -) days before. Different letters indicate significant differences between different days. indicates differences between CON and both NF groups; z differences between NF21 and NF7; x differences between CON and NF7, and { differences between CON and NF21.

3 Two-step weaning and welfare in beef calves Animal Production Science C recorded for a 3-s period every 1 min using /1 sampling (Lehner 1996). (a) 2 a b c a a Average daily gain (ADG) Calves were weighted weekly from Day 28 to Day 7, and the change in bodyweight was calculated for each interval ( 28 to 21; 21 to 14; 14 to 7; 7 to ; and to 7). Statistical analyses Frequencies of each behaviour are expressed as percentages of total observations. The mean value from the data recorded during the 3 days before permanent separation from the dam was considered in the model as a single data (before permanent separation). All data were compared with the mixed model of SAS considering the treatment, time (day), and the interactions between treatment and time as fixed effects, with the calf within group as a random effect. Differences were considered significant at a =.5. Results There were significant effects of day and treatment by day interactions for all the recorded behaviours (Table 1). Moreover, except lying, all the recorded behaviours were significantly affected by treatments. CON calves differed from NF7 and NF21 calves in the frequency of observations of all these behaviours (P <.1). The frequency in which CON calves were observed standing (Fig. 1b) and grazing (Fig. 1d) decreased on Days 1 3, whereas walking (Fig. 1a), pacing (Fig. 2a) and vocalisations (Fig. 2b) increased in the same period in the same calves. In CON calves, all behaviours except vocalisations returned to baseline levels on Days 4 5. Calves from the NF7 treatment tended to be observed lying down less frequently (Fig. 1c) the day after definitive weaning than CON (P =.58) and also were observed in this position fewer timesthannf21calves(p=.1).alsoonlyonday1thechanges in the frequency of walking were smaller in NF7 than NF21 calves (Fig. 1a). There were no differences in the frequencies of lying and grazing (Fig. 1c, d), or in pacing and vocalising between N7 and N21 calves (Fig. 2a, b). Average daily gain ADG did not differ between groups (P =.6), but there were effects of time (P<.1), and interactions between treatments by day tended to be significant (P =.65). During the entire period, CON calves gained.11.1 kg.day 1, NF7 gained kg/day and NF21 calves gained.18.9 kg/day. Discussion Although the behaviour of calves weaned in two steps with the use of nose flaps showed only very slight changes after permanent separation from their dams, calves weaned abruptly showed a typical distress response (Enríquez et al. 21; Hötzel et al. 212). However, the main finding is that there were minimal differences in activity on Day 1, and no differences in ADG in calves that wore the devices for 7 or for 21 days. The aim of nose flap weaning is to simulate as much as possible natural weaning, allowing the calf to make a full transition to a solid diet while still in contact with the dam. Our findings suggest that 7 days with the anti-sucking devices is enough to provoke Pacing (%) (b) Vocalisations (%) a b c a a BPS Time (days) Fig. 2. Frequency of observations in which 6-month-old calves were (a) pacing and (b) vocalising. Calves were weaned abruptly on Day (group CON: -*-), or a nose flap was placed 7 (group NF7: -~-) or 21 (group NF21: - -) days before. Different letters indicate significant differences between different days. indicates differences between CON and both NF groups. the end of the need of suckling, and thus, nutritional independence. Moreover, the main behavioural indicators of distress pacing and vocalising did not differ according to nose flap time of permanence. Calves weaned with nose flaps, independently of their period of permanence, had fewer vocalisations, walking and pacing frequency after social separation from the dam compared with abruptly weaned calves. The behavioural response of CON calves was observed during the first 3 days after physical separation from the dam, and after that all values were similar to those observed before weaning. In general the behavioural changes in CON and nose flap calves at the moment of physical separation are consistent with those found in earlier studies (Haley et al. 25; Enríquez et al. 21; Hötzel et al. 212), reaffirming that weaning in two steps reduces the behavioural response after permanent separation. Similar to our study, Haley et al. (25) observed that CON calves vocalised 2 times more frequently than calves separated abruptly, without differences according to nose flap treatment length. They also reported that after nose flaps were fitted, calves walked 1.3 km/day more than CON calves, but after separation from the dam CON calves walked 11.5 km/day more. Similarly, in this study CON, but not two-step

4 D Animal Production Science P. Alvez et al. weaned calves displayed an increase in pacing and walking frequency. The fact that CON calves vocalised and walked more implies less time spent eating and resting. This is in agreement with the lower weight gain that we observed in CON calves after abrupt weaning, possibly as a consequence of a greater physical activity and lower time grazing. From the productive point of view, the bodyweight lost of calves during abrupt separation has an important negative impact on the system. In Haley et al. (25), calves that wore the nose flaps for 3 days had better bodyweight gains after separation from the dam than those that had had them for 14 days. In our study, in contrast, there was no difference in weight gain between calves that had the devices for 7 or 21 days before permanent separation from the dam. Differences between the studies may be explained by differences in the management after separation from the dam. In contrast with Haley et al. (25), in our study, solid diet was not changed. When fitted with nose flaps and left in social company of the cow, calves are given the opportunity to learn to get their energy requirements from pasture. Thus, calves in our experiment did not need to adapt to the change in diet, whereas in the experiment of Haley et al. (25), in which calves were moved in small groups to drylots where they were fed hay, calves did need to adapt. Differences in the bodyweight of calves between the studies may also be involved, as it has been shown that the calves weight influences its response to weaning (Hötzel et al. 21); however, in the experiment of Haley et al. (25), ADG but not calves liveweight, were reported. Our results have practical implications for the adoption of two-step weaning methods. Findings that the period of permanence of nose flaps do not influence the behavioural response or the weight gain of the calves, allows farmers greater flexibility to apply this management, for example overlapping it with other activities or delaying the removal of the devices due to climatic events. A note must be made regarding the fact that there have been some reports of injuries (Lambertz et al. 214) and abscesses (Fernandes et al. 2; Loretti et al. 23) in calves associated with the use of nose flaps. Even though the reported incidence of complications is low (Loretti et al. 23), it is likely that reducing the period of permanence of the devices might help in reducing the probability of injury or infection. In conclusion, nose flaps can be used for periods from 7 to 21 days before permanent separation from the dam, diminishing the behavioural indicators of distress provoked by weaning. Moreover, ADG of beef calves was similar when nose flaps were used during 7 or 21 days. Therefore, other factors may be taken into account to decide the period of permanence of the anti-sucking devices when two-step weaning is used. Overall, as we have recently observed, this management also improves cow welfare (Ungerfeld et al. 214) since two-step weaning is beneficial for both the calf and the cow. Acknowledgements We acknowledge Viviana Rodriguez and José Luis Ponce Covarrubias for help with behavioural recordings and Gustavo Pereira who helped with animal management. We also acknowledge CIDEC for the financial support. M. J. Hötzel acknowledges the fellowship funded by a CNPq, Brazil (PQ 34123/212 9). References Daros RR, Costa JHC, von Keyserlingk MAG, Hötzel MJ, Weary DM (214) Separation from the dam causes negative judgement bias in dairy calves. PLoS ONE 9, e98429doi:1.1371/journal.pone Enríquez DH, Ungerfeld R, Quintans G, Guidoni AL, Hötzel MJ (21) The effects of alternative weaning methods on behaviour in beef calves. 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