Suckling and allosuckling in river buffalo calves and its relation with weight gain

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate if river buffalo calves (Bubalus bubalis) have equal access to all cows and if milk is thus equally available to all of them. We recorded suckling/allosuckling behaviour and weight gain (WG) of 29 calves (14 males and 15 females), with special consideration to their sex, birth order (B0) and age. Cows' nursing behaviour and milk production (MP) were also considered. While males tended to be bom earlier than females during this study, this was not the trend in the overall herd records. The cows' MP was not effected by the calves' sex. However, bull-calves presented greater mean WG, and mean times spent in individual filial (IF) and in communal nonfilial (CNF) suckling than heifer-calves, which showed greater communal filial (CF) suckling than the former during the first 4 months of life. The WG was associated with IF for bull-calves (r = 0.680 and 0.765, respectively, for the periods from birth to 4th and 8th months of age), and to CNF for heifer-calves (r = 0.628, for the period from birth to 8th month). Results from multiple regression analysis showed independent effects of each suckling category on the calf WG, and such effects were variable according to the calf's sex. BO was negatively correlated to calves' WG (bull-calves: r s = -0.873 and -0.799, from birth to 4th and 8th months, respectively; heifer-calves: r s = -0.531 from birth to 4th month). Specifically for bull-calves, there was a positive correlation between BO and MP (r s = 0.528 and 0.633, from birth to 4th and 8th months of age, respectively). The correlation between BO and IF was negative in both sexes, indicating that calves that were born early had more opportunities to suckle individually from their mothers. For heifer-calves, BO was positively correlated with CF (two periods), and negatively with CNF (from birth to 8th month of age), suggesting that heifer-calves were most often accompanied by other calves during suckling when they were bom later. The data taken together indicate that sex and/or BO influenced decisively social interactions during suckling, promoting differential development among the calves. In animal husbandry, if a homogenous WG is desired, these factors have to be taken into consideration.

Allosuckling in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus): Milk-theft, mismothering or kin selection?

“…In reindeer, rapid milk ejection is required since calves suckle frequently and for short durations (White and Luick, 1984). Therefore, we assumed that milk transfer occurred, and a similar assumption was made in other studies (Drábková et al, 2008;Gauthier and Barrette, 1985;Paranhos da Costa et al, 2000;Pélabon et al, 1998;Zapata et al, 2009).…”

“…Because age of calf has been shown to increase the occurrence of allosuckling in calves of camels (Brandlová et al, 2013), fallow deer (Ekvall, 1998) and red deer (Landete-Castillejos et al, 2000), we controlled for this effect by including age of calf (in days) as a covariate in our model. Birth mass was added as a covariate, since calves of cattle cows (Víchová and Bartoš, 2005) and river buffalo (Paranhos da Costa et al, 2000) with low birth mass performed more allosuckling. Sex of calf was added as a covariate, since male river buffalo calves spent more time allosuckling than female calves (Paranhos da Costa et al, 2000), and female cattle calves had a higher incidence of allosuckling than male calves (Víchová and Bartoš, 2005).…”

“…Birth mass was added as a covariate, since calves of cattle cows (Víchová and Bartoš, 2005) and river buffalo (Paranhos da Costa et al, 2000) with low birth mass performed more allosuckling. Sex of calf was added as a covariate, since male river buffalo calves spent more time allosuckling than female calves (Paranhos da Costa et al, 2000), and female cattle calves had a higher incidence of allosuckling than male calves (Víchová and Bartoš, 2005). Mixed models control for repeated measures, and accordingly doe identify and calf identity were entered as random effects, since does allonursed several times a day and over the study period, and calves allosuckled repeatedly during the study period.…”

“…Lactating females allonurse NF offspring to compensate for growth and/or nutritional deficiency by letting down milk surplus from non-maternal milk, such as in red deer (Bartoš et al, 2001a), cows (Bos taurus) (Víchová and Bartoš, 2005), river buffalo (Paranhos da Costa et al, 2000), and guanacos (Zapata et al, 2010). In contrast to the compensation hypothesis (Bartoš et al, 2001a;Víchová and Bartoš, 2005), NF offspring are predicted to increase growth rates and mass at weaning due to improved nutrition by ingestion of milk surplus from non-maternal milk in addition to that which they receive from their own mother (Packer et al, 1992;Hayes, 2000).…”

Maternal offspring behaviour in Curraleiro Pé Duro naturalized cattle in Brazil

“…On the other hand, Paranhos da Costa et al (2000) reported that sex of calf influenced the number of feedings and total duration of suckling. Males had a mean of 2.60±0.03 feeds per day with a total duration of 25.05±1.37 min/day, while females averaged 2.12±0.04 and 21.51±1.55 feeds and min/day respectively.…”