Social housing improves dairy calves’ performance in a competition test

This study aimed to investigate the impact of early-life social housing on dairy calves' competitive skills. Calves were housed either individually (n=9) or in pairs (n=9). After 14 d of housing treatment, calves underwent a competition test for 5 d against a competitor. Pair housed calves performed better than individually housed calves: throughout the competition days, individually housed calves increased their latency to approach the milk bottle and decreased their time spent drinking in contrast to pair housed calves which exhibited stable latencies to reach the milk bottle and increased their time drinking. To control for the influence of personality on their competitive abilities, all calves were subjected to personality tests assessing boldness before being exposed to the housing treatment. Bolder calves tended to approach the milk bottle faster. Our results provide additional evidence of the beneficial effects of social housing on dairy calves’ behavioral development.