Effects of handling during temporary isolation after early weaning on goat kids' later response to humans

Abstract

The effects of brief isolation from peers and handling at two early ages on the relationship between humans and goat kids were investigated. Norwegian dairy kids were weaned at 1 week, penned together, fed from a multinippled bucket, and allocated into three groups: H0 animals ( n = 8) received no additional contact; H1 animals ( n = 9) were isolated and individually handled for 5 min twice a day for 10 days after weaning; H6 animals ( n = 9) were handled similarly at 6 weeks of age. Kids were tested at 5 months and 7.5 months with two tests which were conducted twice on each goat. The ‘encounter test’ included social isolation (1 min), presence of a seated familiar person (1.5 min), and presence of a standing familiar person trying to touch the kid (1.5 min). The ‘choice test’ included social isolation behind solid walls (1 min), behind fenced walls (30 s) and a choice between tied familiar peers or a familiar seated human. Handled kids moved less ( P < 0.05) than H0 kids in the encounter test, especially with the moving human. They spent more time in contact with the human even if familiar peers were present in the test pen ( P < 0.05) than did H0 kids. At 5 months of age, they also vocalised less ( P < 0.01) than H0 kids, but not at 7.5 months of age. However handling appeared to be more effective at 1 week (H1) than 5 weeks later (H6). Many more recorded variables differentiated significantly between H1 and H0 than between H6 and H0. In addition, H1 spent more time close to the observer when alone in the encounter test at both ages ( P < 0.05) and vocalised less alone behind solid walls in the choice test at 5 months of age ( P < 0.01). In conclusion, artificial feeding is not sufficient to tame the kids. Kids only sought human contact if they had previously been isolated and handled. Handling at weaning seemed to induce different effects compared with handling at a later age. The effect of weaning, age, isolation and handling on the later behaviour of the kids are discussed.