Our research indicates that data already available on commercial farms by automatic feeders on feeding behaviour of calves could be harnessed to establish a personality trait. We quantified between-individual differences in feeding rate and meal frequency and showed that feeding rate and meal frequency were positively and significantly associated with weight gain.
Together, these results indicate the existence of a personality trait which positions high meal frequency, fast drinking, fast growing calves at one end and low meal frequency, slow drinking, and slow growing calves at the other. In addition, using technology we established social networks among calves and showed that age, familiarity, weaning, and sickness have a significant impact on the variation of social proximity interaction of calves.
Contact details:
Professor Jasmeet Kaler
Professor in Epidemiology and Precision Livestock Informatics
Nottingham Vet School