Effect of mother contact and voluntary colostrum suckling on growth, health and stress of neonatal buffalo calves

Abstract

The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of full mother contact and voluntary colostrum suckling on the health, stress and growth performance of neonatal Murrah buffalo calves. For this, two experiments (exp.) were conducted involving exp.1, 24 mother-calf pairs were divided into three equal groups (eight pairs/each group). In no mother contact (NC) group, weaning was allowed immediately after birth. In restricted mother contact (RC) group, restricted contact was allowed twice daily. In fence-line mother contact (FC) group, calves were in full-time mother contact from birth to day (d) 5 and allowed voluntary colostrum suckling and thereafter fence-line contact. In exp.2, another 24 mother-calf pairs were selected and divided into two groups (12 pairs in each group), with the same conditions as the RC and FC groups in exp.1. Average daily gain, total protein and total Ig concentrations differed between different groups in both experiments. Cortisol levels were lower in FC followed by RC and lowest in NC calves, and similar results were observed in exp.2. It was concluded that the provision of full mother contact along with free choice colostrum suckling from birth to 5 days followed by fenceline mother contact and twice daily suckling at milking time abated the separation and weaning stress and remarkably improved the growth, immune status and health of Murrah buffalo calves as compared to the calves which were allowed only limited contact twice daily or the calves which were weaned at birth.

Effect of mother bonded rearing on growth, health and physiological state of Murrah buffalo calves

“…The findings of the current study complements previous research suggesting that buffalo calves are born agammaglobulaemic and rely heavily on maternal colostrum for passive immunity (Bharti et al ., 2015; Hedegaard and Heegaard, 2016). They need an adequate amount of colostrum at frequent intervals to promote the development of appropriate levels of passive immunity (Hammon and Blum, 1998; Choudhary et al ., 2022). Thus, this illustrates the real importance of provision of full physical calf–dam contact and consequent full opportunity for ingestion of colostrum compared to a limited contact and artificial feeding system for buffalo calves.…”

“…With respect to the adverse consequences of separation in cattle and buffaloes, recent studies have shown that a fenceline mother-calf system (FCMC) can reduce stress and improve the health and growth of dairy and buffalo calves (Johnsen et al, 2016;Hassan et al, 2019;Choudhary et al, 2022). Sirovnik et al (2020) defined FCMC as limited physical contact between a mother and her own calf, allowing olfactory, visual, auditory and limited tactile contact.…”

“…Sirovnik et al (2020) defined FCMC as limited physical contact between a mother and her own calf, allowing olfactory, visual, auditory and limited tactile contact. Further, Choudhary et al (2022) reported that the provision of full mother contact along with voluntary choice colostrum suckling from birth to 5 d followed by fence line mother contact and twice daily suckling at milking time reduced the separation and weaning stress and remarkably improved the growth, immune status and health of Murrah buffalo calves compared to calves which were allowed only limited contact twice daily or calves which were weaned at birth.…”

“…With respect to the adverse consequences of separation in cattle and buffaloes, recent studies have shown that a fenceline mother–calf system (FCMC) can reduce stress and improve the health and growth of dairy and buffalo calves (Johnsen et al ., 2016; Hassan et al ., 2019; Choudhary et al ., 2022). Sirovnik et al .…”