Effect of familiar peers or own videos on behavioral and physiological response in isolated calves
2006
Ito, S.(National Inst. of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan)) | Yayou, K. | Matsuyama, S. | Moriyama, R. | Suto, M. | Kasuya, E. | Ohkura, S. | Okamura, H.
The objective of this study was to determine whether exposure to videos of familiar or conspecifics reduce stress response in socially isolated Holstein calves. Four castrated Holstein calves were habituated to be reared in stanchion stalls. One test-calf was isolated in its own stall by removing its peers for 3 hours, according to the social isolation protocol. A life-size video of the peers, own or blueback was projected during the isolation period onto a screen set about 1.5 m away from the animal. The duration of specific behavioral categories (feeding, drinking, standing, lying, ruminating, and freezing), and the number of vocalizations during the isolation period were measured. Blood samples were collected at 30-min intervals during the isolation period via a jugular catheter used for the assay of cortisol and ACTH. The number of vocalizations and the standing time ratio tended to increase during the social isolation (P = 0.068); the time ratio of feeding, ruminating, and lying tended to decrease (P=0.068); plasma concentration of cortisol and ACTH, however, did not change with isolation. The only effect of the video was that the time ratio of ruminating tended to increase during familiar cow videos (36.0+-3 .3%), compared with blueback videos (16.9+-6.1%) (P=0.068). These results suggest that the video of familiar animals may partly reduce the behavioral stress response due to isolation.
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