Some aspects of on-farm assessment of social behaviour and avoidance distance were investigated on 20 Austrian dairy farms. The avoidance distance of at least 75% of cows was assessed. Social behaviour of the cows was observed for one hour and the number of animals standing was recorded every 10 min. Lameness of each animal was scored, and Spearman correlations were calculated. Generally, the avoidance distance of the cows was very low. Lameness did not correlate significantly with avoidance distance. The number of agonistic interactions with body contact per cow correlated negatively with the percentage of lame animals (rs = -0.49; P = 0.029). However, this correlation was no longer found (rs = -0.22; not significant) when calculated on the basis of standing animals only. The total number of social interactions correlated highly with the number of social interactions when interactions in the feeding rack were disregarded. The present study suggests that lameness confounds the assessment of social behaviour but not that of avoidance distance of cows, and that social interactions of animals standing in the feeding racks can be disregarded without decreasing the reliability of the assessments.

In the present study we evaluated the influence of different sample sizes and different experimenters on the reliability of measures of avoidance distance (AD) at farm level. On 29 dairy farms the AD of 55-100% of the cows was assessed by two different experimenters (E1 and E2). For both experimenters the herd median of AD (ADME) and the percentage of animals that could be touched (Touch%) were calculated. The reliability between experimenters was assessed by Spearman rank correlation coefficients. To assess the influence of sample size on reliability of AD, the tested animals were randomly divided into two halves (H1 and H2), and ADME and Touch% were calculated for both halves and correlated with each other, with total ADME and total Touch%, and with the behaviour of the milkers. All measures of AD were highly correlated between experimenters (ADME rs = 0.86; Touch% rs = 0.81). On farms with a higher value for ADME, however, some discrepancy was found between experimenters in ADME and Touch%. Smaller sample size reduced the number of significant correlations with milkers’ behaviour. AD of H1 and H2 correlated only moderately (rs = 0.38-0.43). In sum, smaller sample size reduced reliability and validity. Between-observer reliability of AD was relatively high, but there may be some observer influence. Further investigations are necessary to optimise the measures.

Although the relationship between farm animals and humans has strong implications for animal welfare and productivity, there have been few experimental studies on the influence of gentle interactions in group-housed calves. In the present study, Austrian Simmental calves were housed in groups of four under standard management conditions. Fourteen calves experienced 40 min of additional gentle interactions in the form of stroking and gentle talking during the first four weeks of life, whereas the remaining eleven calves did not. The animals’ fear of humans was measured by avoidance distance tests on 33 and 76 days of age and by an arena test that comprised three phases — isolation, presence of a human, isolation — at 34 days of age. The very low avoidance distances did not differ significantly between the groups. In the arena test, there was less behaviour indicative of stress in the presence of the experimenter compared with the isolation phases. Heart-rate measurements showed a corresponding pattern. Control calves showed more tail-flicking than stroked calves and had higher concentrations of salivary cortisol before and after the test. There were no other significant differences between the groups. The minor number of behavioural differences may result from the control animals’ good relationship with humans, ie there is a ceiling effect. If the general contact between stockpeople and calves is gentle and negative experiences are minimised, it is possible to achieve a good calf-human relationship without additional efforts.

In this Research Communication we address the hypotheses that reduced contact with humans during the first week of life would impair the relationship of dairy calves reared in dam-calf-contact systems to humans in comparison with artificially reared animals, but that this difference would vanish over time. Artificially reared calves (Artificial) that had been separated from their mother within 12 h after birth were bottle-fed with colostrum for 5 d and thereafter sucked milk from an automatic milk feeder. Animals reared with dam-calf contact (Dam-contact) were kept in the calving pen with their dam for 5 d, and then had permanent access to the cow barn and thus to their dam. Calves were weaned at an age of 12 weeks and kept in young stock groups mixed of both treatments until integration into the cow herd. We tested the animals’ relationship with humans by assessing the animals' responses towards an unfamiliar person in an avoidance distance (AD) test in the home environment at 4 weeks of age, at 15 months and at 33 months. In calves, we additionally measured AD in a novel arena after a stationary person test. Artificial animals had lower AD, i.e. showed lower level of fear, than Dam-contact calves. However, the AD in Dam-contact calves decreased with increasing number of days they experienced assistance for suckling. Further, there was no significant difference in later ages. In conclusion, gentle human contact in combination with feeding during the first 5 d of life improved calves' relationship to humans leading to differences between the two treatments as well as within the Dam-contact calves. Potential effects under different conditions regarding quantity and quality of human-animal interactions need further research.

Cattle’s relationship with humans is a crucial factor regarding their welfare. In dairy cows, interactions with humans occur regularly during milking. We tested the effect of gentle interactions (stroking, talking in a gentle voice) during milking on avoidance distance and milk composition, yield and flow characteristics as well as behaviour during milking. Over the course of 15 days, an experimenter interacted gently with 14 German Holstein cows for 2 min during morning and evening milkings, totalling 60 min; the experimenter stayed at a similar distance to 12 control cows of the same breed for the same amount of time. There were no significant differences between the groups in behaviour during milking. Over the course of the experimental phase, avoidance distance at the feeding rack decreased significantly in stroked but not in control cows. The treatment did not improve any of the measures of milk composition, yield or flow; on the 1st day of the treatment, milk ejection was impaired in stroked cows, which points towards an effect of the novelty of the treatment. We conclude that gentle interactions during milking improve the relationship between cows and a human. Possible reasons for the absence of an effect on milk characteristics are that cows may not have perceived the interactions as positive or that a ceiling effect occurred due to otherwise optimal milking routines.