Researchers from the University of Helsinki aim to find out. They have presented a validation of a wireless system intended to measure the amount of time calves spent engaged in both REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep. Resting posture was also used to quantify the amount of time calves spent sleeping. The amount of sleep recorded by the two methods did not differ.
This system should allow researchers to gain a greater understanding of how much sleep animals require. Currently, it’s speculated that sleep is a key component of an animal’s health and well-being, but there are few data to support this. This research was presented at the Congress of International Society of Applied Ethology and reported recently in the W.H. Miner Institute’s Farm Report.