Locomotor, vocal and other behavioral responses to varying methods of weaning foals

McCall, C.A.; Potter, G.D.; Kreider, J.L.

doi:10.1016/0168-1591(85)90035-8

Cited by 76 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The attendant nutritional, social, and environmental changes may have long-lasting consequences for both mother and foal (Apter and Householder, 1996;Henry et al, 2012). Weaning of foals under farm conditions may occur as early as immediately after birth but is more commonly undertaken at the age of 4-8 months (Apter and Householder, 1996;McCall et al, 1985;Rogers et al, 2004;Weeks et al, 2000). Time of weaning on horse farms reflects the tradeoff between the 2 opposite concerns for the breeders: the condition of the mare which could result in earlier weaning (Ladewig et al, 2005), and the effect on developmental and behavioral aspects for the foal, which results in a tendency to delay weaning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of prompt versus stepwise relocation to a novel environment on foals' responses to weaning in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Dubcová

Bartošová

Komárková

2015

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tArtificial weaning is often highly stressful for both mother and offspring. We investigated the effect of 2 different weaning and relocation schedules on growth rate and saliva cortisol concentrations in a group of loose-housed domestic horses. We predicted higher acute stress (cortisol concentrations), but a lower long-term effect on weight gain, which would indicate lower chronic stress in foals, if the foals were moved to the new environment immediately after separation from the mothers ("prompt relocation" [PR]) compared with relocation that was adjourned for a week ("stepwise relocation" [SWR]). Within 2 seasons, 56 foals weaned at age of 165-250 days were regularly weighed up to 140 days after weaning. Growth rate significantly differed between SWR and PR foals. The PR weanlings revealed relatively stable increase in their weights, whereas SWR foals experienced a significant drop in growth during the first 3 weeks after weaning. The weight differences were still apparent 5 months after weaning (predicted weight, least squares means AE standard error: 374.40 AE 1.75 kg in PR vs. 362.71 AE 1.66 kg in SWR foals). Cortisol concentrations changed significantly between and within different weaning procedures and were highest in PR foals after weaning and relocation. Compared with pre-weaning values, cortisol levels increased in PR but not in SWR foals, either after weaning or deferred moving. We found large individual variability in foals' growth and in cortisol concentrations for both weaning procedures. There was also a year effect in SWR foals. Stepwise changes of the physical and social environment (deferred removal to the remote facility) within a short period after abrupt weaning resulted in lower acute stress but induced long-term negative effects on foals' growth rate compared with joint weaning and relocation. Our results support rather prompt moving of the weanlings to the new facility, rather than to a stepwise location on horse breeding farms.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of prompt versus stepwise relocation to a novel environment on foals' responses to weaning in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Dubcová

Bartošová

Komárková

2015

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Many companion animals, including dogs, are removed suddenly from their mothers, usually concurrently from their familiar social and physical environment. Behavioral (Houpt and Hintz, 1983;McCall et al, 1985), and physiological (McCall et al, 1987;Malinowski et al, 1990) signs of distress at this sudden weaning are observed in many species. Activation of the HPA axis has also been shown to continue for several weeks after weaning in both rodents and primates (Levine, 2000), and there is no reason to assume this is not the case for dogs.…”

Section: Management Of Weaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

Rooney

Clark

Casey

2016

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The causes of fear and anxiety in working dogs are multifactorial and may include inherited characteristics that differ between individuals (e.g. Goddard and Beilharz, 1982; 1984a,b), influences of the environment (Lefebvre et al., 2007), and learned experiences during particular sensitive periods (Appleby et al., 2002) and throughout life. Fear-related behavior compromises performance, leads to significant numbers of dogs failing to complete training (e.g., Murphy, 1995;Batt et al., 2008), early withdrawals from working roles (Caron-Lormier et al., 2016), and can jeopardize dog and handler safety. Hence, amelioration of fear and anxiety is critical to maintain dogs in working roles and to ensure their well-being. Although current methods of selection and training are seemingly effective at producing many dogs which work in a remarkable array of environments, some dogs do not make the grade, and longevity of service is not always maximized. Programs should strive for optimal efficiency and they need to continually analyze the value of each component of their program, seek evidence for its value and explore potential evidence-based improvements. Here we discuss scientific evidence for methods and strategies which may be of value in reducing the risk of fear behaviors developing in the working dog population and suggest potentially valuable techniques and future research to explore the benefit of these approaches. The importance of environmental influences, learning opportunities, and effects of underlying temperament on the outward expression of fear and anxiety should not be underestimated. Identification of characteristics which predict resilience to stress are valuable, both to enable careful breeding for these traits and to develop predictive tests for puppies and procured animals. It is vitally important to rear animals in optimal environments and introduce them to a range of stimuli in a positive, controlled, and gradual way, as these can all help minimize the number of dogs which develop workinhibiting fears. Future research should explore innovative methods to best measure the relative resilience of dogs to stressful events. This could include developing optimal exposure protocols to minimize the development of fear and anxiety, and exploring the influence of social learning and the most effective elements of stimulus presentation.

show abstract

“…[14], horses [15], guinea pigs [9] and cattle [13] There was no effect of weaning on the rate of animals' resting or eating regardless of the weaning method. As already shown in this species [18] [6].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychobiological consequences of two different weaning methods in sheep

Orgeur¹,

Bernard²,

Naciri³

et al. 1999

Reprod. Nutr. Dev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-Weaning is associated with a break in the mother-infant contact. In sheep, under natural conditions, the rupture of the social bond is progressive. In contrast, weaning imposed by breeders may result in psychobiological disturbances. The aim of this experiment was to measure the behavioural, hormonal and immune consequences of two types of sudden weaning: total separation (TS) and partial separation (PS) ovins / sevrage / psychobiologie / bien-être

show abstract

Locomotor, vocal and other behavioral responses to varying methods of weaning foals

Cited by 76 publications

References 6 publications

Effects of prompt versus stepwise relocation to a novel environment on foals' responses to weaning in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Effects of prompt versus stepwise relocation to a novel environment on foals' responses to weaning in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

Psychobiological consequences of two different weaning methods in sheep

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About