There have been a number of welfare concerns raised about the individual rearing of dairy calves in early life, such that the practice is now not allowed for many Scottish dairy farmers under a number of supermarket-aligned contracts. Using a non-randomised control trial, this project will examine the effects of individual versus pair-rearing of dairy calves on calf productivity (assessed via daily liveweight gain), health (morbidity and mortality) and welfare assessments (assessed using a number of behavioural measures including latency to feed, novel object test and Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) as well as salivary cortisol measurements). The hypothesis is that pair-rearing dairy heifer calves from birth to 2-3 weeks of age compared to individual rearing will provide long-term benefits in calf performance, health and welfare.