Suckling in Free‐ranging Beef Cattle — Temporal Patterning of Suckling Bouts and Effects of Age and Sex

Abstract

AbstractSuckling was studied in primiparous cross‐bred beef cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus) kept on a 1000‐ha grazing area. Observations were made at mean calf ages of 1, 7, 65 and 123 d on 20 calves of each age. Recordings of four different behaviours were made at 12‐s intervals and recordings of butting were made continuously during one suckling bout per calf and age. Two types of sucking, occurring within the same suckling bouts, were distinguished: sucking 1 (rhythmic sucking movements) and sucking 2 (<3 sucking movements followed by release of teat). It was found that sucking 1 made up 18.5–35.2 % of the total suckling time. The highest proportion of sucking 1 was recorded at 65 d of age. Sucking 2 made up 39.3–50.0 % of the total suckling time and it tended to decrease with age. The first recording of sucking 1 was made on average 7.3 (±4.4) recordings after start of a suckling bout and continued for about 5 min thereafter. Sucking 2 was recorded both before, during, and after sucking 1 activity, which is here suggested as being the main period of milk intake. Buttings were recorded during the whole suckling bout, but tended to be most frequent towards the end of the sucking 1 period. Calves did not show any regular suckling pattern at 1 d of age, but at 7 d, a distinct pattern had been established. The calves initiated the suckling bouts, with increasing calf age, more often than the mothers. The suckling bouts were mostly terminated by the calves, especially after 7d of age. Suckling bouts were significantly longer in bull calves than in heifer calves at 7d, but sucking 1 was recorded significantly more often in heifer calves at 123 d. From this study, it is suggested that, in cattle, the temporal patterning of the suckling bout appears to consist of three main parts: prestimulation, milk intake, and post‐stimulation.