Effects of tactile stimulation and application of umbilical antiseptic on the welfare of pre-weaned beef calves

The objectives of the current study were to investigate the impacts of tactile stimulation and application of umbilical antiseptic in newborn beef calves on 1) reactivity when interacting with humans in handling facilities, and 2) risk of disease treatment, mortality, and average daily gain (ADG). A total of 120 calves (65 males and 55 females) were randomly allocated into one of four experimental groups: TSUA) calves with tactile stimulation and application of umbilical antiseptic; TS) calves with tactile stimulation but no application of umbilical antiseptic; UA) calves without tactile stimulation but with application of umbilical antiseptic, and C) control, calves without tactile stimulation or application of umbilical antiseptic. Welfare was assessed using behavioural indicators (calf reactivity during weighing inside the cage (RDW), reactivity inside the squeeze chute (RSC), flight speed (FS), and avoidance distance (AD)), health (treatment for disease and death from birth to pre-weaning), and productivity (ADG in two periods, ADG1 and ADG2). A factor analyses with varimax rotation was performed to analyse behaviours composing RDW, generating 4 principal components (PC) (elevated responsiveness, vigilance activity, agitation response, and vocalization) with eigenvalues exceeding 1 and together explaining a total of 67% of the total variance. To evaluate the differences in calves' RDW PC’s scores, RSC, FS, AD, ADG1, and ADG2 among experimental groups, generalized linear mixed models were performed. Fisher's tests were performed for health indicators to investigate the association between the experimental groups and the occurrence of Neonatal Calf Diarrhea (NCD), Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD), or both (DBRD). Only FS had a significant association with the experimental groups ( P <0.001), with the lowest mean ± SE for TS (1.10 ± 0.03) compared with TSUA (1.23 ± 0.03, P = 0.01), UA (1.22 ± 0.04, P = 0.02), and C (1.22 ± 0.03, P = 0.02), which did not differ from each other ( P > 0.05). Other behavioural indicators did not differ among experimental groups ( P > 0.05). Likewise, there was no significant association of experimental groups with health or productivity indicators ( P > 0.05). In conclusion, the application of tactile stimulation early in beef calves' lives was associated with a decrease in one of the four reactivity tests evaluated (FS). While the evidence of a broader impact on calf welfare is limited because other welfare indicators were not affected by the interventions, these results suggest that tactile stimulation could positively influence reactivity in a specific scenario. • Tactile stimulation and umbilical antiseptic application early in life influence calf reactivity during handling as measured by flight speed but not other reactivity tests. • Tactile stimulation and/or application of umbilical antiseptic early in life does not affect pre-weaning calf risk of disease treatment or mortality. • Tactile stimulation and/or application of umbilical antiseptic early in life does not affect calf growth rate.