Productional data of primiparous dairy cows reared in different social environments during the first 8 weeks after birth.

This paper is composed of 5 datasets describing primiparous milk production, reproduction, body weight, activity and whole life longevity and reproductional data in dairy cows that had been reared either with or without mother for the first four days after birth and either in single housing or housing in groups of four between 1 and 8 weeks of age. The datasets contain the following variables- survival to the first lactation, date of first successful insemination, milk parameters per day (such as sum of milk yield, milk electrical conductivity and milking time), activity and body weight, all these collected during the first standardized lactation of 305 days. Cows' longevity, reproduction and other management events were recorded during the whole life of experimental animals (such as inseminations, pregnancy diagnostics, group changes etc.

Weaning reactions in beef cattle are adaptively adjusted to the state of the cow and the calf.

Abrupt weaning as practiced in beef cattle husbandry is stressful for both the cow and her offspring. However, the reaction to weaning varies among individuals. Based on the theory of maternal care allocation, we derived and tested the following hypotheses: 1) cow reaction to weaning will be stronger if the calf is young, if the calf is a female, and if the calf had higher daily weight gain; 2) cows in a higher parity and cows that are not concurrently pregnant will react more on weaning; and 3) young and female calves, and also calves with higher daily weight gain will respond more to weaning.

The effect of age at separation from the dam and presence of social companions on play behavior and weight gain in dairy calves.

Play behavior positively affects welfare of farm animals, yet impoverished social environment during early ontogeny may limit the opportunity or motivation to play. This study investigated the independent and the combined effects of the presence of the dam during the colostrum feeding period and subsequent group housing on play behavior and growth in dairy calves. Forty female calves were allocated to 1 of 4 treatments according to a 2×2 factorial design.