Early-life contact with non-maternal adult cows and a pasture-based rearing environment influence behavioural responses of dairy heifers to novelty.

The complexity experienced in early life can affect trait development of individuals, including sociability and fearfulness. The modern dairy calf's rearing environment often lacks environmental and social complexity. This study examined the effects of early-life, non-maternal adult contact and access to a physically complex environment on the responses of dairy heifers to several stressors, including restraint, social isolation, and novelty at 18 months of age.

Temperament Behaviours in Individually Tested Sheep Are Not Related to Behaviours Expressed in the Presence of Conspecifics.

Individual behavioural testing in sheep is common; however, outcomes may be misleading as they are a highly gregarious species that is usually managed in groups. We investigated whether behaviour expressed by 3-4-month-old Merino lambs ( = 220) in social isolation was related to their behaviour towards the same stimuli when three other conspecifics were present, and if measures of temperament (vocalisations and locomotory behaviours) were repeatable across both social situations. Expression of all behaviours were reduced when conspecifics were present, and vocalisations were rarely performed in social groups, suggesting that this behaviour is a response to social isolation.

Contact with Mature Cows and Access to Pasture during Early Life Shape Dairy Heifer Behaviour at Integration into the Milking Herd.

This study aimed to determine the effects of early-life physical and social enrichment on the ability of dairy heifers to integrate into a herd of mature cows. Fifty heifer calves were reared from the ages of 2-13 weeks in one of three treatments: (1) Hand-reared and group-housed in sheds (CC); (2) Hand-reared and group-housed at pasture (-S); or (3) Hand-reared and group-housed at pasture, with 3 non-familial dry cows per group (+S). At 23 months of age, these heifers were introduced in groups to small herds of cows (Cows) at pasture.

Exposure to humans after weaning does not reduce the behavioural reactivity of extensively reared Merino lambs.

Human-directed fear in extensively reared sheep is often high due to the aversive nature of common husbandry procedures and infrequent interactions with humans. This study investigated whether additional human exposure provided to weaned lambs reduced human-directed fear and behavioural reactivity. Ninety Merino lambs were either exposed to low or moderately stressful human exposure sessions, or had no additional human contact, and their fear responses and behavioural reactivity to humans, a startle stimulus and confinement were tested.

Behavioural reactivity testing in sheep indicates the presence of multiple temperament traits.

Temperament in sheep is commonly presented as unidimensional, with a 'nervous' temperament indicative of fear and reactivity towards humans and novel environments. However, temperament is multidimensional, with some traits expressed only under certain conditions (context-specific). There is evidence that a common temperament test in sheep, the isolation-box (IB), measures level of activity and not fearfulness as intended, and that behaviours measured in the IB test are indicative of different traits.