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Invited review: A systematic review of the effects of pair housing on dairy calf welfare and productivity.

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Title: Invited review: A systematic review of the effects of pair housing on dairy calf welfare and productivity.
Authors: Bučková K; Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University Ames, Ames, IA 50011-3150. Electronic address: kbuckova@iastate.edu., Moravcsíková Á; Department of Ethology and Companion Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, 165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic; Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science104 00 Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic., Šárová R; Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science104 00 Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic.
Source: Journal of dairy science [J Dairy Sci] 2025 Dec; Vol. 108 (12), pp. 12878-12902. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Sep 25.
Publication Type: Journal Article; Systematic Review; Review
Language: English
Journal Info: Publisher: American Dairy Science Association Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 2985126R Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1525-3198 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00220302 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Dairy Sci Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Publication: Champaign, IL : American Dairy Science Association
Original Publication: Lancaster, Pa. [etc.]
MeSH Terms: Animal Welfare* , Housing, Animal* , Dairying*/methods, Animals ; Cattle ; Animal Husbandry ; Behavior, Animal
Abstract: Individual housing of dairy calves has received criticism due to animal welfare concerns. Therefore, it is important to provide researchers and practitioners with accurate and reliable scientific knowledge on alternative housing systems for dairy calves. Our objective was to critically evaluate the scientific knowledge on pair-housed dairy calves. The outcomes investigated were the performance, behavior, reactivity to stress, health, learning abilities, and emotional states of pair-housed calves. Primary research articles were found through targeted Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Agricola searches. Studies were included if peer-reviewed, published in English, based upon original data, and pair-housed calves were compared with individually housed calves. After applying the inclusion criteria, 48 articles were left. Most articles did not report differences in behavior of individually and pair-housed calves. Few exceptions included social behavior, behavioral reaction to husbandry procedures, and behavior in the human approach test. Social behavior tended to be better developed in pair-housed calves, which also showed more flexible behavioral reactions to several husbandry procedures. However, pair-housed calves interacted less with a human in the human approach test. We found no consistent evidence of impaired health or improved productivity, learning abilities, and emotional states in pair-housed calves. In conclusion, pair housing provides calves with more benefits than individual housing and improves or does not affect variables of a high value to the producer. We encourage research on longer-term effects of pair housing, such as social behavior or productivity of dairy cows, because the number of long-term studies is limited.
(The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)
Contributed Indexing: Keywords: alternative housing for dairy calves; calf well-being; individual housing
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20250927 Date Completed: 20251120 Latest Revision: 20251120
Update Code: 20251121
DOI: 10.3168/jds.2024-26251
PMID: 41015236
Database: MEDLINE
Description
Abstract:Individual housing of dairy calves has received criticism due to animal welfare concerns. Therefore, it is important to provide researchers and practitioners with accurate and reliable scientific knowledge on alternative housing systems for dairy calves. Our objective was to critically evaluate the scientific knowledge on pair-housed dairy calves. The outcomes investigated were the performance, behavior, reactivity to stress, health, learning abilities, and emotional states of pair-housed calves. Primary research articles were found through targeted Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Agricola searches. Studies were included if peer-reviewed, published in English, based upon original data, and pair-housed calves were compared with individually housed calves. After applying the inclusion criteria, 48 articles were left. Most articles did not report differences in behavior of individually and pair-housed calves. Few exceptions included social behavior, behavioral reaction to husbandry procedures, and behavior in the human approach test. Social behavior tended to be better developed in pair-housed calves, which also showed more flexible behavioral reactions to several husbandry procedures. However, pair-housed calves interacted less with a human in the human approach test. We found no consistent evidence of impaired health or improved productivity, learning abilities, and emotional states in pair-housed calves. In conclusion, pair housing provides calves with more benefits than individual housing and improves or does not affect variables of a high value to the producer. We encourage research on longer-term effects of pair housing, such as social behavior or productivity of dairy cows, because the number of long-term studies is limited.<br /> (The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)
ISSN:1525-3198
DOI:10.3168/jds.2024-26251