Table 1.
Effects of space allowance1 on pen-level average activity patterns and within-pen variability2 (with 95% CI) for n = 6 pens (5 calves/pen), exposed to each space allowance for 7 d in a replicated Latin square design
| Item | Space allowance |
F2,10 | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.7 m2 | 4.6 m2 | 5.6 m2 | |||
| Pen-level average | |||||
| Standing time (h/d) | 6.51 | 6.48 | 6.33 | 1.44 | 0.28 |
| (5.86, 7.15) | (5.84, 7.14) | (5.68, 6.97) | |||
| Standing bout frequency (no./d) | 20.6a | 20.4a | 22.5b | 7.80 | 0.009 |
| (19.0, 22.1) | (18.9, 22.1) | (20.9, 24.1) | |||
| Standing bout duration (min/bout) | 20.3a | 20.5a | 17.7b | 7.48 | 0.010 |
| (17.2, 23.2) | (17.5, 23.5) | (14.7, 20.7) | |||
| Within-pen variability | |||||
| Standing time CV | 17.4a | 14.4ab | 12.3b | 6.44 | 0.016 |
| (14.5, 20.4) | (11.5, 17.4) | (9.4, 15.3) | |||
| Standing bout frequency CV | 23.7 | 18.8 | 21.1 | 3.03 | 0.093 |
| (19.5, 29.1) | (14.0, 23.6) | (16.3, 25.9) | |||
| Standing bout duration CV | 24.9 | 22.4 | 21.3 | 1.96 | 0.19 |
| (21.2, 29.0) | (18.4, 26.3) | (17.4, 25.2) | |||
| Hourly standing time ICC | 0.25a | 0.38b | 0.51c | 25.7 | <0.001 |
| (0.10, 0.40) | (0.24, 0.52) | (0.37, 0.65) | |||
Values within a row with different superscripts differ (P < 0.05).
Space allowance treatments selected to represent the range from industry-recommended minimum space allowance (3.7 m2), typical average space allowance for larger groups of calves per survey results, and space allowance exceeding industry averages.
Within-pen variability was assessed using CV for daily standing time, standing, bout frequency, and standing bout duration (larger values reflect greater within-pen variability), and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for hourly standing time by pen and day (larger values reflect greater consistency within the pen).