Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves

Vázquez-Diosdado, Jorge A.; Occhiuto, Francesca; Carslake, Charles; Kaler, Jasmeet

Abstract

Social network analysis in dairy calves has not been widely studied, with previous studies limited by the short study duration, and low number of animals and replicates. In this study, we investigated social proximity interactions of 79 Holstein–Friesian calves from 5 cohorts for up to 76 days. Networks were computed using 4-day aggregated associations obtained from ultrawideband location sensor technology, at 1 Hz sampling rate. The effect of age, familiarity, health, and weaning status on the social proximity networks of dairy calves was assessed. Networks were poorly correlated (non-stable) between the different 4-day periods, in the majority of them calves associated heterogeneously, and individuals assorted based on previous familiarity for the whole duration of the study. Age significantly increased association strength, social time and eigenvector centrality and significantly decreased closeness and coefficient of variation in association (CV). Sick calves had a significantly lower strength, social time, centrality and CV, and significantly higher closeness compared to the healthy calves. During and after weaning, calves had significantly lower closeness and CV, and significantly higher association strength, social time, and eigenvector centrality. These results indicate that age, familiarity, weaning, and sickness have a significant impact on the variation of social proximity interaction of calves.

Citation

Vázquez-Diosdado, J. A., Occhiuto, F., Carslake, C., & Kaler, J. (2023). Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 2275. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29309-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 2, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 8, 2023
• Publication Date: Feb 8, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 18, 2023
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Article Number: 2275
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29309-1
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/17373618
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-29309-1#citeas
• Additional Information: Received: 27 July 2022; Accepted: 2 February 2023; First Online: 8 February 2023; : The authors declare no competing interests.