Examination of suckling frequency in beef cattle populations

Authors

  • Attila Zoltán Kovács University of Kaposvár, Department of Breeding and Production of Ruminants and Horses, H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. str. 40.
  • Zsolt Kovács University of Kaposvár, Department of Breeding and Production of Ruminants and Horses, H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. str. 40.
  • Rebeka Zsoldos University of Kaposvár, Department of Breeding and Production of Ruminants and Horses, H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. str. 40.
  • Tamás Garbacz University of Kaposvár, Department of Breeding and Production of Ruminants and Horses, H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. str. 40.
  • Áron Csonka University of Kaposvár, Department of Breeding and Production of Ruminants and Horses, H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. str. 40.

Keywords:

animal behaviour, suckling frequency, beef cows and calves, Hereford, Red Angus

Abstract

This paper was carried out to study the connection between the mother cows (sucklers) and their calves during the lactation period, by examining suckling as a form of maternal behaviour. The daily suckling frequency was observed in two beef populations. We constructed suckling curves from some measured variables. The dam’s genotype, the age of cows, the sex of calves, and some environmental agents (e.g. temperature) were tested as factors influencing the suckling frequency of calves. The number of suckling (NSM) increased after the animals woke up, and their (daily) peak was reached in the morning hours. Genotype of the dam significantly affected (P < 0.01) the suckling frequency, but the age of the dam did not affect it significantly (P > 0.05). NSM was not affected by the sex of calves and there was a low correlation between the NSM and the weaning weight of calves. The difference between the experimental days was analyzed only in relation to the year or month in both cases (P < 0.01).

Author Biography

  • Attila Zoltán Kovács, University of Kaposvár, Department of Breeding and Production of Ruminants and Horses, H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. str. 40.

    corresponding author
    kovacsaz@atk.u-kaposvar.hu

References

Cameron, N. D. (1997): Selection and prediction of genetic merit in animal breeding. CAB International. https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851991696.0000

Czakó, J. (1978): Ethologic of domestic animals. Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, Budapest.

Enyedi, S., Szuromi, A. (1991): Behaviours of beef cattle in the pasture. Hungarian Animal Breeding and Nutrition., 40(1) 27–34.

Hafez, E. S. E., Lineweaver, J. A. (1968): Suckling behaviour in natural and artificially fed neonate calves. Zootechnik Tierpsychologie, 25(2) 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1968.tb00012.x

Hafez, E. S. E. (1975): The Behaviour of Domestic Animals. 3rd edit. Williams&Wilkins, Baltimore.

M. José, R. P. da Costa, Galváo, A., Joanir P. E., Josineudson, A. II. De V. Silva (2006): Suckling behaviour of Nelore, Gir and Caracu calves and their crosses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. (In press)

Houpt, K. A., Wolski, T. R. (1982): Domestic Animal Behaviour for Veterinarians and Animal Scientist. Iowa State University

Kovács, A. Z. (2005): Genetic and environmental effects to the calf-rearing ability. Conference of „Management of beef farms” Paper. Kaposvár

Lengyel, Z. (2005): Genetic and environmental factors which affected to weaning production of beef calves. Doctoral (Ph.D) dissertation. VE-GMK, Keszthely.

Lidfors, L., Jensen, P. (2003): Behaviour of free-ranging beef cows and calves. Applied Animal Behaviour Science

Márton, I. (2003 and 2005): Practice of breeding and keeping of beef cattle. Szaktudás Kiadó Ház, Bp. pp. 122. Countryside Meteorological Service, Siófok.

Shake, L. M., Riggs, J. K. (1969): Activities of lactating beef cows in confinement. Journal of Animal Science, 28(4) 568–572. https://doi.org/10.2527/jas1969.284568x

SPSS for Windows version 11.5, copyright SPSS inc. (2004)

Stookey, J. M. (1997): Maternal Behaviour of Beef Cows. Saskatchewan Beef Symposium

Vandenheede, M., Nicks, B., Désiron, A., Canart, B. (2001): Mother-young relationships in BBB cattle after a Caesarean section: characterization and effects of parity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 72(3) 281–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(01)00118-6

Walker, D. E. (1962): Suckling and grazing behaviour of beef heifers and calves. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 5(3–4) 331–538. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288233.1962.10419963

Downloads

Published

2007-04-30

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2007): AWETH

Section

Articels

License

Copyright (c) 2007 Kovács Attila Zoltán, Kovács Zsolt, Zsoldos Rebeka, Garbacz Tamás, Csonka Áron

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The journal operates according to the principles of open access, however, the content is available under the Creative Commons 4.0 standard licenc: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0.  Under the following terms: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

How to Cite

Kovács, A. Z., Kovács, Z., Zsoldos, R., Garbacz, T., & Csonka, Áron. (2007). Examination of suckling frequency in beef cattle populations. Animal Welfare, Ethology and Housing Systems (AWETH), 3(1), 48-58. https://journal.uni-mate.hu/index.php/aweth/article/view/6889

Most read articles by the same author(s)