Social Housing Improves Dairy Calves’ Performance in Two Cognitive Tests
In this study, newborn Holstein calves were separated from their mothers shortly after birth and isolated in a pen for four days. Half of the calves continued in solitary housing, while the other half shared a pen with another calf. Calves were tested for ability to change tactics when a situation changed at four weeks, and to habituate to a new situation at seven weeks. Solitary-housed calves were slower to adjust to a change in the first test, and never got acclimated to a new object in the second test, suggesting that housing without social contact negatively impacted their cognitive development. READ MORE
