Milk consumption and behavior of calves in automated calf feeders as early indicators of weaning liveweight

Modern intensive dairy farming relies on data to aid and prioritize management decisions made on farm. Decisions made early in an animal's life can have lasting effects on welfare, productivity, longevity, and profitability. Precision technology such as automated calf feeders (ACF) allow the customization of feeding programs, but despite this, weaning weights (WWT) vary substantially between calves. This observational study used a 3-yr dataset comprising 1,440 female Holstein Friesian calves at a single intensive commercial dairy farm (Dairy Australia feeding system 5; indoor, total mixed ration) using ACF to (1) determine the variability in WWT (as a proxy of animal performance) of calves within this system; (2) identify the contributing factors responsible for the variation in WWT; and (3) identify potential early management intervention points that could be indicative of the performance of calves at weaning within the system. Calves entered the ACF at 10 d of age with 12 calves per ACF; calves were weighed at birth and weaning using weigh scales. We discovered a large range of calf WWT (41–118 kg/head) at ~60 d of age despite the application of strict uniform management protocols. Our results from modeling showed that WWT was significantly and positively associated with birth weight (BWT), with low BWT calves (<36 kg) achieving an average of 70 kg weight at weaning. In contrast, heavier BWT (>36 kg) calves achieved an average of 82 kg at weaning. Based on calf feeder data, cumulative milk consumption and cumulative unrewarded visits to the feeder, as well as BWT, were identified as indicators of greater WWT as all these were highly significant terms in the model for WWT. Results suggest that quantifying consumption and number of visitations to the ACF at d 5 may allow farmers to identify, with time to intervene, calves underperforming within the feeder or system, therefore increasing their potential for growth. Additionally, this demonstrated that greater milk consumption (>30 kg) and interaction with the feeder up to d 5 in the feeder is more likely to yield a WWT >75 kg, identifying a potential point for management intervention for calves below consumption and interaction thresholds (e.g., by developing alarm systems based on consumption or visitation number).