Abstract
Common weaning practices in today’s beef industry involve discontinuation of the cow-calf social and nutritional bond. When this bond is discontinued, atypical behaviors of walking and vocalizing are immediately observed in the calf that negatively affect calf welfare. Global positioning systems (GPS) provide an opportunity to quantify the effects of animal activity on welfare. Utilizing GPS technology, we are able to determine total distance walked, speed, total time walking, or total time not walking and the interactions with calf production. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a familiar trainer animal on calf production during weaning and more specifically, common weaning behaviors such as walking utilizing a Garmin® product. A total of 80 Angus x Simmental heifer calves were used in this study. In all four replications, heifer calves were allotted to each treatment group (n = 10), trainer animal or control (TR, CON) on the day of weaning. Calves in the TR group were placed on pasture at weaning with the familiar trainer animal, and control calves were placed in a similar size pasture without a trainer animal. Each calf was also fitted with their own GPS collar that recorded on days 0, 7, and 14 relative to initiation of the study for a full 24 hours before removal. Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design with repeated measurements (SAS 9.4). Placing calves with a familiar trainer animal decreased the distance calves walked (P = 0.001) as well as the amount of time calves were walking (P = 0.001). Placing a familiar trainer animal with calves at weaning, therefore, has an effect on walking distance and amount of time calves devote to walking.