The objective of this study was to test if body weight (BW) and starter intake increased and reaction to novelty decreased for preweaning Holstein heifer calves pair housed in modified hutches (n = 8 pairs) versus individually housed in a single hutch (n = 14 calves). Calves were alternately assigned to housing treatment at d 5 of age. Cross sucking was recorded in 5-min scans for 30 min after milk feeding once per week over 14 wk. Calf health and BW were measured weekly from birth until approximately 88 d. When calves were 60 d old they underwent a food neophobia test where they were exposed to a novel feed for the first time. Cross sucking was observed only 5 times (in 4 different pairs) over the entire milk-feeding period. Pair-housed calves ate more starter than individually housed calves [0.89 (0.72–1.08) vs. 0.48 (0.42–0.56) kg/d; median and confidence interval], these calves also consumed 2.6 times more novel feed in the neophobia test (150 ± 27 vs. 58 ± 20 g/30 min). We observed no effect of treatment on BW. We concluded that social housing in modified hutches promotes solid feed intake and decreases fearfulness in dairy calves.

这项研究的目的是测试将断奶的荷斯坦小母牛犊牛配对（n = 8对）与单独饲养的单个荷塘（n = 14）相比，体重（BW）和起动机摄入量是否增加，对新颖性的反应是否降低小牛）。在第5岁时，将小牛轮流分配给住房。每周喂奶一次超过14周后，在5分钟扫描中记录了30分钟的交叉吸吮。从出生到大约88 d，每周测量一次小腿的健康状况和体重。当犊牛60 d龄时，他们进行了食物新恐惧症测试，首次将它们暴露于新型饲料中。在整个喂奶期间，仅观察到5次交叉吸吮（4对不同的吸吮）。成对饲养的犊牛比单独饲养的犊牛的起步时间要多[0.89（0.72-1.08）kg / d，0.48（0.42-0.56）kg / d；中位数和置信区间]，在新恐惧症测试中，这些犊牛的进食量也增加了2.6倍（150±27对58±20 g / 30分钟）。我们观察到治疗对体重没有影响。我们得出的结论是，改良型储藏室中的社会住房可提高饲料采食量，并减少奶牛犊的恐惧感。