Sucking Bouts Research Articles

Effect of udder morphology on milk yield and suckling behaviour of patanwadi lambs

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between udder traits, milk yield and lamb suckling behaviour in Patanwadi lambs (n=30) during August to October 2019. The mean body condition score was significantly (p<0.05) less at 40 and 60 days of lactation The average udder tissue content score, udder circumference, udder depth and udder width showed significant (p<0.05) difference between 1st (4.37±0.14, 41.80±0.87cm, 16.90±0.53 cm and 14.93±0.28 cm) and 60th (3.23±0.10, 35.47±0.73 cm, 14.33±0.33 cm and 13.43±0.27 cm) days of lactation. The total sucking duration, sucking frequency, sucking bout, suckling bout frequency, mean bout duration and hindering attempts by dam significantly (p<0.01) decreased from 1st (5.24±0.22, 4.49±0.20/min, 9.16±0.39, 2.62±0.14/min, 45.27±2.09 sec and 1.30±0.31no) to 60th (1.60±0.11, 1.59±0.11/min, 3.67±0.17, 0.94±0.07/min, 18.01±1.61sec and 7.33±0.31) day of lactation while number of sucking attempts non-significantly decreased during the same period. The average daily milk yield of sheep significantly (p<0.01) decreased from 897±35.47g in 1st day to 686±33.56g in 60th day of lactation. The total sucking duration, sucking number and frequency, sucking bout number and frequency and mean bout duration were significantly (p<0.05) correlated with milk yield, udder tissue content and overall shape or suspension of udder. It was inferred that udder conformation and morphology affect suckling behaviour of lambs, dams having symmetrical, wider and capacious udders with clear demarcation between left and right mammary quarters favoured longer sucking durations with a greater number and longer sucking bouts in lambs.

Validation of 1–0 and instantaneous sampling for quantifying oral behaviors in milk-fed dairy calves

Oral behaviors, including feeding, drinking, grooming, and non-nutritive behaviors, are used as indicators of health and welfare in dairy calves, but continuous measurement of these behaviors can be labor intensive. Instantaneous sampling is often used to save labor but has only been validated for feeding behavior in calves. One-zero sampling may be an appropriate strategy well suited to capturing the rapid performance of non-nutritive behaviors. Our objective was to validate 1-0 and instantaneous sampling for measurement of oral behaviors around the time of bottle delivery against true values. Eleven Holstein heifer calves were housed individually, provided water, and fed a diet of starter grain and milk replacer (4.8-5.6 L/d step-up) via a bottle. When calves were 23 ± 7 d old, they were video recorded for 30 min before and after the morning 2.5 ± 0.2 L milk meal, from approximately 0900 to 1000 h. We measured ruminating, eating, drinking water, sucking milk, grooming, non-nutritive oral manipulation, and tongue flicks continuously and with instantaneous and 1-0 sampling at 5-, 10-, 30-, and 60-s intervals. We also examined the effect of instantaneous timing within these intervals. Estimates obtained through subsampling were compared with true values via regression analysis. The subsampling interval was determined to represent true values if the coefficient of determination ≥0.9, slope = 1, intercept = 0, and relative error <10%. Ruminating, drinking water, and eating were not performed by all 11 calves and were not included in the analysis. The proportions of time performing non-nutritive oral manipulation, grooming, and tongue flicks generated by continuous and 1-0 sampling were highly correlated but were consistently overestimated by 1-0 sampling, especially as calves spent more time engaged in these behaviors. Sucking milk was accurately represented at intervals of less than 30 s, likely due to most sucking bouts continuing for at least 150 s at a time and low between-calf variability compared with the other behaviors. Different start times within a given instantaneous interval resulted in wide variance in discrepancies between subsampling and continuous recording for all behaviors. We conclude that around milk feeding, 1-0 sampling is an appropriate choice to represent stimulus-elicited behavior, such as sucking milk in a milk-restricted system. However, time engaged in short, highly variable, or intermittent behaviors is not reliably captured via instantaneous or 1-0 sampling in the hour around bottle delivery.

Supplementing pregnant Merino ewes with caffeine to improve neonatal lamb thermoregulation and viability

Percentages of lamb mortalities prior to weaning are a significant and persistent problem for the Australian sheep industry. Maternal caffeine supplementation reduced stillbirths and improved viability in piglets; however, the efficacy of caffeine in enhancing viability and lamb survival is equivocal. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal concentration and duration of maternal caffeine supplementation to improve lamb viability; time to stand and suck with consumption of colostrum occurring, as well as survival to weaning. Multiparous Merino ewes were supplemented with either 0 (CTL), 10 (C10) or 20 mg/kg (C20) body weight (BW) caffeine in feed after day 120 of gestation (dG), or 20 mg/kg BW (LC20) caffeine from dG 142 until parturition. Ewes were housed indoors in individual lambing pens from dG 130 to 72 -h post-partum (pp). Values for pp ewe and lamb variables were analysed using a generalised linear mixed model in IBM SPSS version 25. While ewes within the CTL, C10 and LC20 groups consumed more caffeine compared to C20 ewes (P = 0.001), lambs of C20 ewes had greater rectal temperatures at 20 -h pp (P = 0.021), greater 4 -h serum IgG concentrations (P = 0.041), a longer latency to first sucking bout (P = 0.030), and a greater number of sucking attempts (P = 0.044) compared to lambs from CTL, C10 and LC20 ewes. These results indicate that caffeine supplementation during late-gestation stimulates neonatal lambs as a result of increased sucking (4 -h serum IgG) and increased temperatures within the first 24 -h.

Aromatherapy as a Nutrition Improvement Approach in Premature Infants: A Short Review

Background: Literature presented numerous methods to promote nutrition in premature newborns. The aim of the review is to promote nutrition in premature newborns using numerous methods which have been suggested by systematic review. Materials and Methods: Online databases including Scopus, Medline, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched to perform the present review. In this search date of publication was not considered and articles from the beginning until February 10, 2019 were included. The keywords of choice were aromatherapy OR smell OR AND OR baby OR preterm OR premature. To evaluate the quality of the studies obtained by searching, Jadad scoring was utilized. Results: Finally, four studies were included for review. In the first study, babies in milk-odor group showed more bursts consisting of more than seven sucking attempts, longer sucking bouts and ingesting more volume of milk in comparison to the control group. According to observations in the second study, elevated number of sucks in the presence of breast milk odor was seen in six of 7 infants switched from tube feeding to full enteral feeds in less time. In the third study, olfactory stimulus shows gestational age-related variations in premature infants babies born prior to 31th week of gestation receiving mother's own milk stimulation were able to feed prior to the control group. In the fourth study, babies born after 31th week of gestation did not show significantly different in response to receiving MOM than control group. Conclusion: Aromatherapy improved feeding behavior by more sucking attempt, longer sucking

Effects of milk replacer acidification and free-access feeding on early life feeding, oral, and lying behavior of dairy calves

Acidification is a practical way of preserving the bacteriological quality of milk so that it can be fed to calves under free-access conditions. The objectives of this study were to evaluate how milk replacer acidification and free-access feeding affect dairy calf behavior during the first week of life. Sixteen Holstein male calves were purchased at birth and transported to the University of Guelph Kemptville Campus Dairy Education and Research Centre. Calves were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 milk feeding programs: (1) free-access (ad libitum) feeding of acidified milk replacer (22% crude protein and 17% fat, 150 g/L; FA); (2) restricted (6 L/d, 150 g/L) feeding of acidified milk replacer (RA); (3) free-access feeding of nonacidified milk replacer (FN); and (4) restricted feeding of nonacidified milk replacer (RN). Formic acid was used to acidify milk replacer to a target pH between 4.0 and 4.5. Video recordings of each calf at 1, 2, and 6 d were analyzed continuously over 24 h for all occurrences of each behavior in the ethogram. Feeding behavior observations were organized into sucking bouts, from which feeding behavior outcome variables were calculated. Calves consuming acidified milk replacer demonstrated more fragmented feeding patterns, characterized by more pauses within a sucking bout (FA, FN, RA, and RN calves = 12.4, 4.4, 13.7, and 11.9 pauses/bout, respectively) and longer sucking bout duration (FA, FN, RA, and RN calves = 8.8, 5.2, 9.3, and 8.1 min/bout, respectively), than calves fed nonacidified milk replacer. Restricted-fed calves tended to have longer sucking bouts and performed more within-bout sucks (FA, FN, RA, and RN calves = 10.7, 5.8, 13.5, and 14.1, respectively) and pauses than free-access calves. Acidification and free-access feeding did not affect lying duration. Calves assigned to the acidified feeding treatments tended to perform more grooming behavior than those fed nonacidified milk replacer (FA, FN, RA, and RN calves = 0.9, 0.5, 0.8, and 0.6 h/d, respectively). Free-access feeding did not affect grooming duration. The observed differences in feeding and grooming behavior suggest that acidification to a pH between 4.0 and 4.5 may have altered the palatability of milk replacer. Calves assigned to the acidified milk replacer feeding treatments did not, however, show avoidance toward this feedstuff during the first week of life.

Camel Calves as Opportunistic Milk Thefts? The First Description of Allosuckling in Domestic Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus)

Allosuckling is a situation when a female nurses a non-filial offspring. It was described in various ungulate species; however for camels this is the first description of this behaviour. The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence of allosuckling in captive camels (Camelus bactrianus) and to test whether it can be explained as a ‘milk-theft’ (opportunistic behaviour of calves) or alternatively as an altruistic behaviour of females. During 2005 and 2007, nine camel females and ten calves in four zoological gardens in the Czech Republic were observed. In total, 373 sucking bouts were recorded, from which 32 were non-filial (the calf sucked from the non-maternal female). Allosuckling regularly appeared in captive camel herds. As predicted for the milk-theft explanation, the non-filial calves sucked more often in the lateral position and even did not suck in the antiparallel position at all. The non-filial calves preferably joined the filial calf when sucking but in five cases (15.6% of non-filial sucking bouts) the calves sucked from non-maternal dam without the presence of filial calf. We then expected the differences in terminations of sucking bouts by females but did not find any difference in sucking terminations for filial and non-filial calves. As the calves were getting older, the incidence of allosucking increased. This was probably because skills of the calf to outwit the non-maternal dam increased and/or the older calves might be more motivated for allosucking due to the weaning process. Finally, duration of a sucking bout was shorter with non-filial than filial calves. The results of the study support the hypothesis of ‘milk theft’, being mostly performed by calves behaving as opportunistic parasites, but we cannot reject certain level of altruism from the allonursing females or their increased degree of tolerance to non-filial calves.

Pre-orbital gland opening: Part of sucking behavior in red deer (Cervus elaphus) calves1

Opening of the pre-orbital gland in red deer (Cervus elaphus) was previously found to be associated with feeding and negatively associated with achieving satiety in bottle-reared red deer calves. We speculated that this acted as a signal from a calf to the mother that it was hungry. Thus, we focused on a possible association between the pre-orbital gland opening and the sucking behavior in red deer calves. We recorded 63 sucking attempts and 150 sucking bouts within a stable social group of 24 farmed red deer females with 19 calves ages 16 to 90 d. The probability of the pre-orbital gland opening or remaining open during a sucking bout rapidly decreased with the on-going sucking phase (P < 0.001), and it was less after than during a sucking attempt (P < 0.03). The proportion of open pre-orbital glands at the end of sucking depended on whether the nursing female (27.85%) or the calf (0%, P < 0.01) terminated the sucking bout. The open pre-orbital gland of the calf after the sucking bout significantly predicted a subsequent sucking attempt (P < 0.001). The probability of open pre-orbital gland was not significantly affected by the age of the calf, sex or birth weight, or age of the nursing female. In conclusion, our study provides evidence that the opening of the pre-orbital gland is one of the general patterns of calf sucking behavior, specifically that it reflects the level of satisfying calf needs.

Breed differences in the expression of maternal care at parturition persist throughout the lactation period in sheep

Maternal care plays an important role in the survival of offspring in mammals. In the ewe initial maternal care is expressed by nurturing the young and formation of an exclusive olfactory bond with the lamb. After the neonatal period, maternal care is associated with co-operation with sucking interactions, maintenance of a close ewe–lamb relationship, communication with lambs, vigilance and a tendency to seek absent lambs. Two breeds of ewe, Suffolk and Scottish Blackface, have previously been shown to differ in their expression of early maternal care, and in lamb survival. It was hypothesised that these differences in the expression of maternal behaviour would persist throughout the lactation period and continue to be expressed in other aspects of maternal care. The maternal behaviour of 32 primiparous ewes (18 Suffolk, 14 Blackface) was observed from birth until weaning at 12 weeks of age. As shown previously, Blackface ewes spent more time grooming their lambs than Suffolk ewes ( P < 0.001), and were more cooperative with the early sucking behaviour of their offspring ( P < 0.01). Blackface ewes were significantly closer to their lambs from birth and throughout the lactation period ( P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between breeds in maternal vocal communication with their lambs, however, Blackface ewes were significantly more vigilant (head alert) than Suffolk ewes from week 4 of lactation onwards ( P < 0.01). The lambs of Suffolk ewes had a significantly higher frequency of sucking bouts ( P < 0.05) than lambs of Blackface ewes in the first weeks of lactation. However, Blackface ewes accepted a greater proportion of lamb sucking attempts than Suffolk ewes ( P < 0.01), and these sucking bouts were longer than with Suffolk ewes ( P < 0.05). The results therefore show that differences in the expression of maternal care seen in the initial post partum period in sheep persist throughout lactation, and would be expected to contribute to lamb survival.

Reducing milk induced cross-sucking of group housed calves by an environmentally enriched post feeding area

Group housing of calves is an animal-friendly natural and economic way of raising calves. One major disadvantage of artificial milk feeding in group housing systems, however, is the incidence of cross-sucking. The main objective of this study was the evaluation of structural and technical modifications of the feeding stall of an automatic teat feeder and the environmentally enriched feeding area in relation to a reduction of cross-sucking after finishing a milk meal. The experiment was carried out with 168 female calves (German Holstein) of one origin randomly assigned to two treatments: control group and optimized group with a furnished post feeding area and an exercise yard with environmental enrichment. Calves were fed by an automatic teat feeder according to schedule starting with 7 L whole milk per day and calf. Cross-sucking and general behaviour was observed for 20 min directly after the milk meal. Observations were made at three age levels on two consecutive days. Depending on the age group, cross-sucking behaviour of calves in the optimized group was significantly lower (11.9 to 17.2%) compared to the control group (58.6 to 73.7%). Based on the age, mean duration of cross sucking bouts showed in the control group were significantly higher (79.0 to 122.5 s) than the bouts of the optimized group (39.0 to 65.0 s). With an increase of age the calves of the optimized group used the post-feeding area first with an average duration of 129.0 s and later with an average duration of 416.0 s. Corresponding to this result, calves of the optimized group left the feeding stall significantly faster (13 s) than the reference group (61 s). Despite those facts, the presence of a post feeding area and its interior had no significant effect on feeding behaviour regarding concentrates and hay and other behaviour observed in relation to the milk meal. Our results indicated that adding a post feeding area to an automatic milk feeding system can significantly reduce cross-sucking of group housed calves related to milk intake by simultaneously increased performance of the feeder. However, future research is needed to evaluate interactions between feeding techniques, environment and physiological processes related to cross-sucking behaviour of calves.

Ontogeny of belly nosing in pigs weaned at 14 days of age: A study from weaning to 13 weeks of age

As weaning age decreases, belly nosing tends to increase, and can have lasting effects on growth, as well as the frequency of nosing and chewing penmates into the grow-finish phase of development. The objective of this study was to investigate the incidence of belly nosing and sucking in early-weaned pigs as these behaviours relate to other oral-nasal behaviours, such as tail biting. Piglets sired by Duroc (n = 120) and Large White (n = 122) boars were weaned at 14 d of age and observed at 18, 23, 28, 50, 63 and 91 d of age for nosing and sucking behaviours during nursery and grow-finish. Continuous observations at 21 and 35 d of age were used to determine mean belly nosing and sucking bout lengths. Belly nosing commenced within 4 d of weaning, peaked in incidence at 23-28 d of age and gradually decreased thereafter (P &lt; 0.001). Belly sucking gradually increased with age (P &lt; 0.001). Belly nosing and sucking bout durations also increased with age (P &lt; 0.01 and P &lt; 0.001, respectively), with belly nosing bouts lasting an average of 17.5 (21 d) to 27.3 (35 d) s compared with mean belly sucking bouts of 22.6 (21 d) to 58.1 (35 d) ss. The results suggest that vices associated with belly nosing continue to present a welfare concern in latter stages of developmentKey words: Behaviour, ontogeny, pigs, belly nosing, early weaned

Temporal distribution of sucking behaviour in dairy calves and influence of energy balance

So far, most authors in the literature have suggested that cross-sucking in dairy calves is elicited by milk ingestion, as sucking motivation persists for an additional 12–15 min after milk intake. However, cross-sucking without temporal association to milk ingestion has also been noted in studies with longer observation times. Furthermore, it is known that energy deficits influence sucking behaviour. This study is based on the hypothesis that cross-sucking is not only elicited by milk ingestion; hunger can also reinforce sucking behaviour. Seventy-five dairy calves (in groups of 24–27 animals) were observed two times for 20 h each during the milk feeding period, 1 week after grouping and 1 week before weaning. We noted all events of cross-sucking and related them to the calves’ temporally closest visits to the milk feeder, with or without milk ingestion. The daily energy balance (consumed energy minus energy demand for growth and maintenance) was determined for each animal, and the influence of energy balance on the occurrence of cross-sucking was calculated. Thereafter, a daily energy balance was assigned to each cross-sucking bout. Of 919 cross-sucking bouts, 28.4% occurred within the first 15 min after receiving milk, and 71.6% of the sucking bouts occurred independently of milk intake. Of that 71.6%, half (36.3%) took place either during the 15 min before a visit to the milk feeder (with or without milk ingestion) or during the 15 min after an unrewarded visit to the milk feeder. The rest of the sucking bouts (35.3%) occurred without close temporal association to a visit to the milk feeder. The probability of exhibiting cross-sucking behaviour decreased with an increased energy balance ( P = 0.002). Furthermore, the association between daily energy balance and time to the nearest visit to the milk feeder differed depending on the timing of the sucking bout (before or after the visit to the milk feeder) and if the calf received milk or not during that visit to the milk feeder ( P < 0.001). Energy balance influenced sucking behaviour, indicating that animals with positive energy balance were less likely to perform cross-sucking and that the temporal occurrence of sucking bouts depended on energy balance. These findings show that milk-elicited cross-sucking must be differentiated from sucking bouts triggered by other motivational mechanisms, one of them likely being hunger.

Newborn infant perception of vowels is affected by ambient language.

Behavioral research has shown that by 6 months of age, infants show an effect of experience with native language vowels. In a previous study of category organization, infants in Sweden and the United States treated a vowel prototype as equivalent to variants of the vowel in the native, but not the non‐native language. In the current behavioral study of Swedish and U.S. neonates, results were consistent with those of the 6‐month‐olds. Eighty infants (M=32.8 h since birth) in Washington State and Stockholm participated in a procedure in which non‐nutritive sucking activated one of 17 stimuli (a prototype and 16 variants) from the same vowel category. Twenty infants in each country heard their native vowel, and 20 the non‐native vowel. The vowels were English /i/ and Swedish /y/. Stimuli were serially and randomly activated by the onset of a sucking bout, and once a stimulus was activated, frequency of presentation was infant‐controlled. The dependent measure was number of sucks for each stimulus. For the non‐native vowel only, the mean number of sucks was significantly higher for the prototype than the mean for the 16 variants. This suggests that category organization of vowels begins in utero.

Sucking and allosucking duration in farmed red deer ( Cervus elaphus)

Sucking duration in ungulates does not only mean milk transfer, but is also associated with maternal care in general. It seems to be a reflection of offspring demand rather than solely milk transfer rate. Thus, the objective of this study was to discriminate between sucking and allosucking (i.e. sucking non-maternal hind) behaviour in red deer according to the sucking duration. We hypothesized that: (1) calves should suck longer from their mothers than allosuck from non-maternal hinds; (2) sucking duration of calves frequently nursed by a particular non-maternal hind should be longer than that of calves occasionally allonursed; (3) sucking duration should be longer for bouts including one calf than two or more calves sucking simultaneously; (4) male calves should suck and allosuck longer than female calves; and (5) primiparous hinds should nurse and allonurse longer than multiparous hinds. We observed sucking behaviour of 25 hinds and their 38 calves (from birth until the youngest calf reached one month of age) in two seasons. We recorded 1730 sucking bouts, of which 11.62% in the first season and 4.37% in the second season were non-filial. The duration of filial sucking was significantly longer than non-filial sucking. A large individual variance in the incidence of non-filial sucking in both the calves and hinds was found. Therefore, the non-filial hind–calf pairs were categorized in two clusters according to the frequency of nursing non-filial calves for one hind in relationship to all nursing events for this hind by a cluster analysis (PROC CLUSTER, SAS). We used a general linear mixed model, GLMM (PROC MIXED, SAS) to test the influence of hind relationship to the nursed calf (filial, frequently allosucking non-filial, or occasionally allosucking non-filial pair). Sucking duration of occasionally allosucking non-filial calves was only marginally different from that of filial calves. There was no difference between the two groups of non-filial calves. Multiple sucking bouts were shorter than those with one calf. Male calves sucked longer than female calves; however, the greatest difference was recorded between frequently allosucking non-filial pairs of both sexes. Frequently allosucking non-filial males sucked the longest and differently from occasionally allosucking non-filial males. Frequently allosucking non-filial females sucked the shortest and differently from filial calves of both sexes. It is more likely that allosucking seems to be more important for male rather than female calves. Therefore, it is concluded that allosucking calves differ in their sucking behaviour and two types of allosuckers (frequent and occasional) should be taken into account when analyzing allosuckling behaviour.

Patterns of maternal-offspring behaviour of dairy sheep and potential association with mammary health

Behaviour during lactation and its relationship with mammary health was investigated in 12 dairy ewes (six with single lambs and six with twins) for 42 d after lambing. Behavioural recordings were made. Samples of teat duct material and of mammary secretion were collected for bacteriological and cytological examination. Ewes performed similar patterns of behaviour as those described in the literature for meat breeds, but with some differences. No negative maternal behaviours were observed; ewes showed reduced “Grooming” and “Sniffing” immediately post-partum. Of 480 duct or secretion samples, 39 and 3, respectively (P &lt; 0.001), yielded bacteria. There was no difference in the frequency of bacterial isolation from ewes suckling singles or twins: 46 and 54% of isolates, respectively (P = 0.637). There was greater frequency of bacterial isolation during the first stage of lactation (day 0–day 3), 0.125, compared with the second (day 4– day 11), 0.083, the third (day 12–day 30), 0.063, and the fourth (day 31–day 42), 0.069 (P &lt; 0.001). There was also greater frequency of positive California Mastitis Test scores during the first stage of lactation, 0.917, compared with that in stages 2 (0.550), 3 (0.140) and 4 (0.181) (P &lt; 0.001). There was decreasing duration of “Sucking attempt” and “Successful suck” throughout lactation (P &lt; 0.05). There was increasing frequency of “Hindering sucking” and of “Head up posture” from first to subsequent stages of lactation (P = 0.038 and P = 0.002), whilst “Hindering sucking” coincided with end of “Sucking bouts” of lambs. It is concluded that termination of lamb’s sucking activity by the ewe when her mammary glands have been emptied may prevent damage to the teat and likely development of mastitis. Furthermore, frequent and longer sucking events by lambs during early lactation, may contribute to increased bacterial recoveries from mammary glands of ewes. Key words: Sheep, maternal behaviour, mastitis, sucking, post-partum period, lactation, mammary infection

Behavioural indicators of hunger in dairy calves

Dairy calves are typically fed only about half of their ad libitum milk intake and are highly motivated to drink more milk. The aim of the current study was to describe the behaviours associated with milk hunger in dairy calves, by comparing animals fed restricted quantities of milk (two milk meals weighing a total of 10% of the calf's body weight; n=12) or provided milk ad libitum (n=12). Calves were kept in groups of four and observed from 8 to 14 days of age. Treatment was assigned within group using a computerized milk feeder. Calves fed milk ad libitum gained about four times more weight (P<0.001) and ingested twice as much milk as the restricted-fed calves (P<0.001). The restricted-fed calves performed on average 24 unrewarded visits/day to the milk feeder (i.e. visited the feeder but received no milk), 12-times more than the calves fed milk ad libitum (P<0.001). During rewarded visits, calves fed restricted quantities of milk spent twice as much time on the teat (P<0.001) and consumed the total amount of milk available in a single nutritive sucking bout that was followed by short non-nutritive sucking bouts. Restricted-fed calves spent 1h longer standing/day than the calves fed milk ad libitum (P=0.05), and were more likely to displace other calves from the feeder. Thus, calves fed restricted quantities of milk ingested their available milk allotment more rapidly during a rewarded visit, were more active, more competitive and spent more time at the feeder, indicating that these behaviours can be useful in identifying milk-feeding practices that cause hunger in dairy calves.

The effect of the odour of mother's milk on breastfeeding behaviour of premature neonates

To assess the effects of exposure to the odour of mother's milk on breastfeeding behaviour of premature neonates. Thirteen preterm infants born at 30-33 weeks gestational age were tested. Seven infants were randomly assigned to the milk-odour condition, 6 to the water-control condition. During week 35 post-conceptual age, each baby was exposed to the appropriate odour stimulus for 120 sec. on 5 consecutive days immediately prior to a breastfeeding attempt. The breastfeeding bout following the final odour exposure session, and a second breastfeeding session shortly before the baby left the hospital, were analysed. Babies were weighed before and after each feeding session. During each breastfeeding session, babies in the milk-odour condition displayed longer sucking bouts and more bursts composed of >7 sucking movements, and also consumed more milk than the Control infants. The time spent in the hospital was significantly less for the milk-odour condition (median = 43 days vs. 55.5 days for Controls). Brief exposure to the odour of mother's milk prior to early breastfeeding trials had a positive effect on sucking behaviour and milk ingestion of preterm babies, which in turn resulted in a shortened stay in the hospital.

Effect of environmental enrichment and breed line on the incidence of belly nosing in piglets weaned at 7 and 14 days-of-age

The effect of enrichment and breed line on belly nosing in early-weaned pigs was investigated over two studies. In a preliminary study, 291 piglets were weaned at 7 days-of-age and observed over two consecutive days (pigs ranged from 17 to 30 days-of-age at time of observation). Piglets were fed a liquid milk replacer diet for either 7 or 14 days following weaning. Pen environment was enriched by providing either an air-filled inner tube (Tube), rubber nipples in the feed trough (Nipple), or neither (Control). Pens were segregated by sex with 14–16 pigs per pen. Within pens, there were both Duroc and Yorkshire pigs. Instantaneous scan sampling by two observers was used to determine the incidence of belly nosing, belly sucking, and nosing and sucking other parts of the body. Yorkshire line pigs engaged in more belly sucking (3.97% versus 1.59%; P < 0.01), total sucking (4.30% versus 2.21%; P < 0.05), and belly-directed behaviour (9.2% versus 6.21%; P = 0.089) than did Duroc line pigs. Nipple enrichment effectively reduced the level of belly sucking, overall sucking and belly-directed behaviours in the Yorkshire line pigs, while Tube enrichment reduced other nosing and oral–nasal vices directed away from the belly in the Duroc line pigs. The second study investigated the effect of sire breed and sire within breed on the proportion of time early-weaned pigs spent belly nosing and belly sucking. Two hundred and forty-two crossbred pigs sired by Duroc ( n = 120) and Large White ( n = 122) boars were weaned at 14 days-of-age and observed at 18, 23, 28, 50, 63 and 91 days-of-age for belly nosing, belly sucking, other nosing and sucking, tail biting and other biting behaviours during the nursery and grow-finish phases of development. Continuous observations done live at 21 and 35 days-of-age were used to determine mean belly nosing and belly sucking bout durations. Pigs sired by Large White boars spent a greater proportion of time belly nosing (2.040%; P < 0.01) and belly sucking (0.440%; P < 0.01) compared with pigs sired by Duroc boars (1.597% and 0.308%, respectively). In contrast, Duroc-sired pigs spent a greater proportion of time conducting other nosing (0.356%; P < 0.01) and other sucking (2.496%; P < 0.001) behaviours compared with Large White-sired pigs (0.173% and 2.063%, respectively). Individual sire also had a significant effect on belly nosing ( P < 0.001), belly sucking ( P < 0.001) and other sucking ( P < 0.01) behaviours post-weaning. It was concluded that breed line differences may affect the incidence of nosing and sucking behaviours in early-weaned pigs, which may be reduced through the use of environmental enrichment tailored to the specific abnormal behaviours being performed.

1ヵ月齢で屋外に出した哺育期のサフォーク種子羊の行動

The behaviour of Suffolk lambs placed in an outside fenced area was investigated for the purpose of obtaining useful basic data for proper sheep management. Continuous twenty-four hour observations were performed by a video-recording system at the outside fenced area (5m × 5m) from one month till three months of age. Lambs showed 11.2-13.9 hours per day of resting behaviour in a squatting or lying posture. The mean frequency of feeding behaviour per hour was 3.0 times for daytime and 1.6 times for nighttime at 1 week after 1 month of age, showing the necessity of exclusive feeding of lambs. Drinking behaviour was observed in the intervals between feedings. The mean frequency of drinking behaviour per hour was 0.9-1.4 times for daytime and 0.1-0.4 times for nighttime, showing the necessity of a water supply for lambs even in their nursing period. The mean frequency of sucking behaviour per day was 82.5 times at 1 week after 1 month of age, which then decreased gradually, to 20.5 times at 8 weeks after 1 month of age. The mean sucking bout duration was 9.8-11.0 seconds. From the data of sucking behaviour compared with the author's data in the inside pen, the ewe-lamb relationship seemed to become closer when they were placed in the outside pen during the nursing period.

Adoption, allonursing and allosucking in farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus)

AbstractFollowing a pilot study, the aim of this study was to test the hypothesis whether occurrence of massaging the anogenital region of a calf by a non-maternal hind is a reliable indicator of adoption. The investigation was conducted between 28 May (1st day of calving) and 2 September (abrupt weaning of all calves) on a red deer farm at Vimperk, Czech Republic. Fifty hinds and their calves were observed but only complete data sets of sucking bouts were considered for evaluation. Massaging occurred mostly during the 1st month of the calf’s life. All filial calves were massaged repeatedly. Other calves received ano-genital massage at least twice (termed adopted), on a single occasion or not at all (termed non-filial). Filial and adopted calves behaved in a similar way but differently from non-filial calves. They sucked in an antiparallel standing position so that the hind could lick their ano-genital region more often than the non-filial calves. This occurred even when two calves were involved in the bout. When two calves were involved in the sucking bout, non-filial calves sucked from behind, between the hind’s hind legs. This position occurred more frequently with non-filial than among the filial and adopted calves. It was therefore concluded, that repeated allonursing accompanied with massaging of the ano-genital region of the sucking calf by the hind can be considered a signal of adoption. Hinds usually adopted calves older than their own progeny. The adopted calves were on average 2·5 days old. This suggests that it is most likely the calf’s activity which leads to bonding. No reciprocity was found in allosucking and/or allonursing. The fact that non-filial calves commonly initiated allosucking from a non-maternal hind during the day when she gave birth appeared crucial for establishing bonding which subsequently led to adoption. Hinds may be bonded with several calves including their own. Therefore, bonding with a non-filial calf did not principally mean failure in looking after their own progeny as shown in other studies.

Impact of allosucking on growth of farmed red deer calves (Cervus elaphus)

AbstractIt is generally presumed that allosucking brings benefits to the allosucking infants. Nevertheless, the data supporting such a presumption are rare. The aim of the study was to determine whether allosucking has any impact on growth rates of the allosucking calves. Fifty pregnant hinds were observed between 28 May (1st day of calving) and 2 September (abrupt weaning of all calves) on a red deer farm at Vimperk, South Bohemia, the Czech Republic. Of the 50 calves born the growth curve was calculated for 39 calves. During their 1st month of life these calves were observed in 1015 sucking bouts. In 690 cases the calves sucked from maternal hinds and in 325 cases non-maternal hinds. Only 25·64% of calves sucked exclusively from maternal hinds. The prevailing type of sucking behaviour was a combination of sucking from maternal hinds and allosucking (74·36%). Calves sucking from maternal and non-maternal hinds showed 1·6-fold higher sucking frequency than did calves feeding from maternal hinds only. Our results indicate that to some extend allonursing behaviour of the hind may affect their calves’ feeding behaviour. The more non-filial calves the maternal hind nursed, the higher frequency of the sucking by their calves occurred. The groups of calves did not differ in birth weight. With increasing age, the relative body weight increased faster in calves sucking maternal hinds only than in calves sucking maternal and non-maternal hinds. This gain in body weight was not essentially influenced by the fact whether or not the calf’s maternal hind nursed non-filial or exclusively filial calves. However, at weaning (99 days), the lowest body weight occurred in allosucking calves whose maternal hinds were allonursing. The results suggest that allosucking does not mean an extra profit to the allosucker. Instead, in our subjects, allosucking was rather attributed to compensation of nutritional requirements based on a combination of various factors, such as discrete differences in body weight at birth and also later and allonursing of the maternal hind.