Behavioural evaluation for the possible nursing and artificial rearing of buffalo calves

Abstract EN

Since survival of the young mammals depends on sucking success, it is assumed that sucking motivation must be strong and that sucking deprivation would result in frustration which could have a negative impact on their welfare.

The present study was carried out to investigate the possible signs of acceptance or rejection of nursing buffalo calves on Brown Swiss cows and the percentage of calf acceptance in relation to its age, with reference to the behavioral and performance differences between nursed and artificially reared calves.

The frequency of smelling, licking and rubbing performed by the Brown Swiss cow to nursed calf was significantly increased (P < 0.05) in case of acceptance for nursing.

While, butting and kicking showed a significant (P < 0.05) high frequency in rejected calf compared with nursed one.

Moreover, the age of calf had a prominent effect on the percentage of acceptance to nursing, there was a high percentage of acceptance (80 %) at the end of first week of age, this acceptance was clearly decreased at the end of second and third weeks of age (67.9 and 55 % respectively, P < 0.05).

On the other hand, artificially reared calves had significantly (P < 0.05) higher frequency of non- nutritive oral behaviors that are well known to retard the growth rates of calves, including self-grooming and cross-sucking, together with higher frequency of mutual rubbing and nibbling and fed concentrate in comparison with calves nursed with restricted suckling.

For that, this study showed a high significant (P < 0.01) increase in the average daily weight gain for nursed calves over the artificially reared one either reared in group or individually.

We conclude that, in dairy cattle, smelling, licking and rubbing were behavioral indicators of acceptance to calf nursing and the age of calf had a pronounced effect on the percentage of this acceptance.

Moreover, calves nursed with restricted suckling had higher rates of weight gain in comparison with artificially reared calves owing to the advantage of this system to reduce the frequency of non-nutritive oral behaviors such as self-grooming and cross-sucking that tended to reduce the growth rates of calves.