CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 49Animal Behavior and Welfare StudiesAnimal health and immunologyEffects of Environmental Stressors on Livestock

Associations between Health Status and the Probability of Approaching a Novel Object or Stationary Human in Preweaned Group-Housed Dairy Calves

Open access
Cramer, M.C., Stanton, A.L.·2015·Journal of Dairy Science
DOI 10.3168/jds.2015-9534
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD) and bovine respiratory disease (BRD) are the 2 most prevalent diseases affecting the welfare and productivity of preweaned dairy calves in the United States. Early detection of these diseases improves both the probability of recovery and animal welfare. Group housing of preweaned calves is increasing in popularity and disease detection in a socially competitive environment can be challenging. One method of detecting disease is through the observation of key behaviors that occur during illness. Novel object and stationary human approach tests can be used to measure exploratory behavior, which is decreased during the expression of sickness behavior. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine associations between 4 categories of health status and the probability of calves approaching a novel object or stationary human, and (2) to determine the associations between rectal temperature and the probability of calves approaching. Holstein heifer calves (n = 75) in group housing were tested weekly for the first 6 wk of life for their willingness to approach a novel object (OBJ) or stationary human (SH). After the approach tests, calves were evaluated by research staff using a standardized health-scoring system. Treatment records were obtained from the farm to determine detection of BRD, NCD, and umbilical infections. Associations between probability of approach and BRD status were analyzed using a linear mixed model with a logit-transform (PROC GLIMMIX), controlling for calf as a random effect. All models controlled for week, pen, pen order, and test order. Calves with clinical signs of BRD on test day were 0.5 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.3-0.9] and 0.5 (95% CI = 0.3-0.9) times as likely to approach the OBJ and SH compared with healthy calves, respectively. Calves with a fever (rectal temperature ≥ 39.4°C) were 0.4 (95% CI = 0.2-0.8) and 0.4 (95% CI = 0.1-0.7) times as likely to approach the OBJ and SH compared with calves without fever, respectively. Calves that were recovering from NCD on test day, but were not showing clinical signs of NCD, were 0.4 (95% CI = 0.2-0.9) times as likely to approach SH, compared with healthy calves. These results suggest that approach tests may be useful for the identification of calves with clinical signs of BRD and calves with a fever in group housing.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3168/jds.2015-9534

Cites

31 of 31 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Currently, behavioral tests for BRD detection exhibit a sensitivity range of 23-68% and a specificity range of 43-95%.

    “Currently, behavioral tests for BRD detection exhibit a sensitivity range of 23–68% and a specificity range of 43–95% [87,88,89].”

    From Strategies for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) Diagnosis and Prognosis: A Comprehensive Overview (2024) · cites this paper as [88]

    Table 6 and the Discussion report overall sensitivity of 63.6% and 68.2% for the two behavioral approach tests, supporting the claim’s upper sensitivity bound. Their specificities were 43.3% and 41.7%, respectively. This paper does not establish the stated 23% sensitivity or 95% specificity bounds, and one of its specificity results falls below 43%. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Calves exhibiting clinical signs of BRD demonstrate a decreased propensity to approach humans or new objects relative to healthy counterparts, suggesting a decline in both alertness and exploratory behavior.

    “In contrast, calves exhibiting clinical signs of BRD demonstrate a decreased propensity to approach humans or new objects relative to their healthy counterparts, suggesting a decline in both alertness and exploratory behavior [88].”

    From Strategies for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) Diagnosis and Prognosis: A Comprehensive Overview (2024) · cites this paper as [88]

    The Effect of Disease results report that calves with clinical signs of BRD were less likely to approach both the novel object and stationary human, and the Discussion interprets this as decreased exploratory behavior. The paper does not measure or conclude that these calves had reduced alertness. Page numbers are not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Studies have documented a reduction in exploratory behavior, rumination, hay consumption, and self-grooming in calves experiencing clinical disease or when subjected to a bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge, as opposed to healthy counterparts.

    “Studies have documented a reduction in exploratory behavior, rumination, hay consumption, and self-grooming in calves experiencing clinical disease or when subjected to a bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge, as opposed to their healthy counterparts [88,112].”

    From Strategies for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) Diagnosis and Prognosis: A Comprehensive Overview (2024) · cites this paper as [88]

    The Discussion reports that calves with clinical respiratory disease or fever were less likely than unaffected calves to approach a novel object or human, which the authors interpret as reduced exploratory behavior. The Introduction mentions decreased grooming and appetite as possible sickness behaviors, but this paper does not document reduced rumination, hay consumption, or self-grooming in these calves. Its LPS example concerns mice, not LPS-challenged calves. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Dairy calves with BRD showed multiple abnormal clinical signs and a lower tendency to approach new objects or stationery persons on diagnosis day.

    “Dairy calves with BRD showed multiple abnormal clinical signs and a lower tendency to approach new objects or stationery persons on diagnosis day [88].”

    From Strategies for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) Diagnosis and Prognosis: A Comprehensive Overview (2024) · cites this paper as [88]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Cramer, M. C., & Stanton, A. L.
Affiliations
University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
Venue
Journal of Dairy Science
Publisher
American Dairy Science Association
Published
2015-10
Volume
98
Issue
10
Pages
7298-7308
ISSN
0022-0302 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3168/jds.2015-9534
OpenAlex
W1843449146
Cited by
49
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2
FWCI
5.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Dairy Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA (WIS01685)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal health and immunology
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Effects of Environmental Stressors on Livestock
Keywords
preweaned dairy calves, bovine respiratory disease, neonatal calf diarrhea, sickness behavior, exploratory behavior, rectal temperature, disease detection, group housing, calf welfare, Holstein heifers, umbilical infection, early detection of illness, social competition, recovery from illness
MeSH terms
Animals, Animal Husbandry, Animal Welfare, Animals, Newborn, Behavior, Animal, Cattle, Cattle Diseases, Diarrhea, Female, Health Status, Respiratory Tract Diseases, United States, Prevalence

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review