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All Outputs (10)

Effects of individual and pair housing of calves on long term heifer production on a UK commercial dairy farm (2023)
Journal Article
Mahendran, S., Blackie, N., Wathes, D. C., & Booth, R. (in press). Effects of individual and pair housing of calves on long term heifer production on a UK commercial dairy farm. Animals, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010125

Pair housing of pre-weaning dairy calves has previously demonstrated positive impacts on their growth, health and behaviour, but longer-term effects on production are still relatively unknown. This study followed a cohort of 431 Holstein heifers recr... Read More about Effects of individual and pair housing of calves on long term heifer production on a UK commercial dairy farm.

Effects of individual and pair housing of calves on short term health and behaviour on a UK commercial dairy farm (2023)
Journal Article
Mahendran, S., Blackie, N., Wathes, C., & booth, R. (2023). Effects of individual and pair housing of calves on short term health and behaviour on a UK commercial dairy farm. Animals, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132140

Social pair housing of calves has previously demonstrated positive impacts on calf health and productivity compared to individual housing, but much of the research has been conducted in research institutions in different environmental conditions to t... Read More about Effects of individual and pair housing of calves on short term health and behaviour on a UK commercial dairy farm.

Comparison of environment quality measurements between 3 types of calf housing in the United Kingdom (2023)
Journal Article
Mahendran, S., Blackie, N., wathes, C., & booth, R. (in press). Comparison of environment quality measurements between 3 types of calf housing in the United Kingdom. Journal of Dairy Science, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2022-22613

Pre-weaned calves are kept in a range of housing types which offer variable protection against the weather and provide differing internal environments. This cross-sectional observational study assessed the influence of housing type (shed, polytunnel... Read More about Comparison of environment quality measurements between 3 types of calf housing in the United Kingdom.

A survey of calf management practices and farmer perceptions of calf housing in UK dairy herds (2021)
Journal Article
Mahendran, S., Wathes, C., Booth, R., & Blackie, N. (2021). A survey of calf management practices and farmer perceptions of calf housing in UK dairy herds. Journal of Dairy Science, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2021-20638

Adoption of optimal management techniques for rearing dairy calves has significant impacts on their health, welfare and productivity. Despite much published literature on best practice, calf morbidity and mortality rates remain high. This survey aime... Read More about A survey of calf management practices and farmer perceptions of calf housing in UK dairy herds.

The Health and Behavioural Effects of Individual versus Pair Housing of Calves at Different Ages on a UK Commercial Dairy Farm (2021)
Journal Article
Mahendran, S., Blackie, N., Booth, R., & Wathes, C. The Health and Behavioural Effects of Individual versus Pair Housing of Calves at Different Ages on a UK Commercial Dairy Farm. Manuscript submitted for publication

Housing management of dairy calves is one of the factors that contributes to a successful rearing outcome. Individual housing of pre-weaned calves is thought to provide enhanced biosecurity and easier monitoring of the individual, and so remains prev... Read More about The Health and Behavioural Effects of Individual versus Pair Housing of Calves at Different Ages on a UK Commercial Dairy Farm.

Randomised positive control trial of NSAID and antimicrobial treatment for calf fever caused by pneumonia (2017)
Journal Article
Mahendran, S. A., Booth, R. E., Burge, M., & Bell, N. J. (2017). Randomised positive control trial of NSAID and antimicrobial treatment for calf fever caused by pneumonia. Veterinary Record, 181(2), https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.104057

One hundred and fifty-four preweaning calves were followed between May and October 2015. Calves were fitted with continuous monitoring temperature probes (TempVerified FeverTag), programmed so a flashing light emitting diode (LED) light was triggered... Read More about Randomised positive control trial of NSAID and antimicrobial treatment for calf fever caused by pneumonia.

Randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effect of foot trimming before and after first calving on subsequent lameness episodes and productivity in dairy heifers (2017)
Journal Article
Mahendran, S. A., Huxley, J. N., Chang, Y. M., Burnell, M., Barrett, D. C., Whay, H. R., …Bell, N. J. (2017). Randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effect of foot trimming before and after first calving on subsequent lameness episodes and productivity in dairy heifers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2017.01.011

The objective of this study was to assess both independent and combined effects of routine foot trimming of heifers at 3 weeks pre-calving and 100 days post calving on the first lactation lameness and lactation productivity. A total of 419 pre-calvin... Read More about Randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effect of foot trimming before and after first calving on subsequent lameness episodes and productivity in dairy heifers.