Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** newborn calves are routinely…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** newborn calves are routinely separated from their dams within 24 H of birth. This approach has traditionally been thought to reduce separation stress of the COW-calf pair, as well as improve health of the calf. However, early COW-calf separation is scrutinized as an approach that may reduce animal welfare and well-being of COW and calf. Moreover, calf disease risk and mortality remain stagnant at unacceptably high levels. Our central hypothesis is that prolonged direct COW-calf social contact improves calf behavior, affective state, growth, immune response. We further anticipate that direct COW-calf contact changes the ability of the calf to establish a robust and diverse gastrointestinal and respiratory microbiome, meaning the entirety of the microbes of the GUT and respiratory tract, and that this alters disease resistance. Regarding the postpartum COW, we hypothesize that early VS. Delayed separation of the calf affects the behavior and well-being as well as udder health and milkability. We will address our hypotheses in four distinct objectives: the effects of early VS. Delayed COW-calf separation on (1) COW and calf behavior and affective state, (2) calf health, growth and immune response, (3) the COW & acute; S udder health, milkability and milk production, and (4) the calf GUT and respiratory microbiome and the DAM & acute; S udder microbiome. Our goal is to provide scientific evidence to inform industry best practices based on all relevant outcomes measured in this multi-pronged collaborative approach. Our anticipated impact is that producers and their advisers will be enabled to evaluate current management practices on when to separate calves from cows are based on the best available data which will include our study results.