Plaugher Gillian D, Cantor Melissa C
Department of Animal Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 Jun 27;12:1568164. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1568164. eCollection 2025.
Calves raised in pairs or triplets often experience better growth performance outcomes when compared to their individually housed peers. However, veterinarians may be concerned that pair housing compromises calf health, and producers are concerned about abnormal oral behavior (e.g., cross-sucking). In this literature review, we evaluated the effect of pair or triplet housing vs. individual housing practices on calf health outcomes and performance since 2016. We also evaluated the literature on mitigation strategies to ameliorate cross-sucking in socially housed calves. We found that when researchers used pair housing practices, there was a lack of association between housing practice and risk of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) status in all studies (100%, 7/7). Only one study lacking healthy control calves found a negative effect on calf diarrhea in week 3 (1/8 studies). However, a moderate number of researchers (57%, 4/7) did not use a validated clinical scoring system to diagnose calves with BRD status. Half of the researchers (50%, 4/8) also did not report their diagnostic criteria for diagnosing diarrhea in their calves, and we suggest this is needed for future work. All researchers who fed calves at least 7 L/d of milk and recorded calf starter intakes found that pair-housed calves consumed more calf starter either preweaning or post-weaning (100% 6/6). However, growth benefits were only observed in 4 studies, in which 75% fed calves at least 7 L/d of milk. Cross-sucking is mitigated by providing socially housed calves with an outlet for oral behavior, such as a teat for milk feeding, offering at least 7 L/d of milk, offering a teat with starter, and forage. We recommend that future studies investigating social housing utilize validated clinical scoring systems for calf health monitoring, report disease diagnostic criteria, and feed ≥ 7 L/d of milk to promote performance benefits in pair-housed calves. More research is needed to understand how cross-sucking develops as a habit in socially housed calves.
与单独饲养的犊牛相比，成对或三头饲养的犊牛通常生长性能更好。然而，兽医可能担心成对饲养会损害犊牛健康，而养殖者则担心异常的口腔行为（如交叉吮乳）。在这篇文献综述中，我们评估了自2016年以来成对或三头饲养与单独饲养方式对犊牛健康结果和生长性能的影响。我们还评估了减轻群居犊牛交叉吮乳的缓解策略的相关文献。我们发现，当研究人员采用成对饲养方式时，在所有研究中（100%，7/7），饲养方式与牛呼吸道疾病（BRD）状态风险之间均无关联。只有一项缺乏健康对照犊牛的研究发现，成对饲养对第3周犊牛腹泻有负面影响（8项研究中的1项）。然而，有相当数量的研究人员（57%，4/7）未使用经过验证的临床评分系统来诊断患有BRD的犊牛。一半的研究人员（50%，4/8）也未报告其犊牛腹泻诊断标准，我们建议未来的研究需要这样做。所有给犊牛每天至少喂7升牛奶并记录犊牛开食料摄入量的研究人员发现，成对饲养的犊牛在断奶前或断奶后消耗的犊牛开食料更多（100%，6/6）。然而，仅在4项研究中观察到生长优势，其中75%的研究给犊牛每天至少喂7升牛奶。通过为群居犊牛提供口腔行为的发泄途径，如喂奶乳头、每天至少提供7升牛奶、提供带有开食料的乳头和草料，可以减轻交叉吮乳。我们建议，未来研究群居饲养时，应使用经过验证的临床评分系统进行犊牛健康监测，报告疾病诊断标准，并每天喂≥7升牛奶，以促进成对饲养犊牛的生长性能优势。需要更多研究来了解交叉吮乳如何在群居犊牛中发展成为一种习惯。
