Behaviour reactions of dairy calves kept in boxes

Housing calves in individual boxes during the first month of life did not appear to cause any marked differences in the behaviours of lying and standing in the animals observed in th is study, compared to those in a natural environment. However a lack of lying on side was observed which would suggest that, even at a very young age, the reduced size of the box can influence the use of normal lying positions, reported in the species-specific ethogram. A greater amounts of feed searching occurred during the moments of greatest activity (sunrise and sunset) and close to meals probably correlated to sucking requirement of the animals. It emerged from this study that even though the calves and their living conditions were homogeneous, there were individual variations in the behavioural patterns even in the very early days of life which could be attributed to varying degrees of reactivity and therefore to the individual animal's capacity to adapt to a potential stressor such as the reduced size of its box and the effect of confinement.