Does temperament affect learning in calves?

Four temperament PCs were extracted from the PCA on temperament variables, and these were proposed to reflect fearfulness, activity, exploration, and attention towards the environment. These hypothesised underlying temperamental traits were consistent with findings of previous studies using larger numbers of calves. Two learning PCs were extracted from the PCA on learning variables, and these were proposed to reflect feed motivation and working speed. A single correlation was found between temperament and learning PC scores: high activity was associated with low feed motivation. This preliminary exploratory study suggests that temperament, as assessed during challenge tests, may affect learning an operant conditioning task in calves. Understanding how temperament affects learning in calves can help with the training of calves on novel automated feeding apparatuses or on novel feed components, and can thus help improve calf health and welfare.