Suckling behavior of Red Angus calves after birth
Keywords:
Red Angus calf, first successful standing up, first suckling, body condition, weight at birth, weaning weighAbstract
The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship of the cows and their calves in a Red Angus population (kept in Balatonfenyves, Hungary, in May of 2010, n = 12 first-calf heifers and n = 18 cows). The traits analyzed were the followings: first successful standing up (time after birth, in minutes), the number of attempts for standing up, first suckling (time after standing up, in minutes), body condition, weight at birth, weight and age at time of weaning, weaning weight corrected to 205 days. There were no statistically significant differences in suckling behaviour and in the “traditional” parameters (e.g. condition, weight at birth) in Red Angus male and female calves. Angus calves with an average 30.8 kg weight at birth (n = 30) had 6.8 attempts for standing up, the first successful standing up occurred in the 32.5th min, the first suckling in the 76.8th min. The principal component analysis proved the behaviour patterns after birth having major effect in two factors. Our results suggest the usefulness of observing - and involving to the analysis - also some behaviour traits easy to describe, next to traditional parameters.
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