Introducing young dairy goats into the adult herd after parturition reduces social stress

Abstract

The aim of this experiment was to compare social stress, as measured by social behavior and adrenocortical activity, in young dairy goats during the first week after introduction into a herd of adult goats either during the dry period of the herd (i.e., all goats in the herd being pregnant or dry: PD) or shortly after parturition (i.e., all animals lactating or with their kids: LK). Thirty-two young goats that had had no contact with adult goats from the age of 7 wk were introduced into adult goat groups. Adult goats were kept in 2 groups of 36 animals each. Young goats were introduced (in groups of 4 animals each) into each of these 2 groups either during the PD period (2 repetitions) or during LK (2 repetitions); goats with different rearing experience were balanced over introduction periods. Young goats were more often receivers of agonistic social interactions when introduced during PD than during LK. Irrespective of the period of introduction, young goats had other young goats as neighbors more frequently than expected by chance alone, although this was even more distinct during PD. Cortisol metabolite levels increased markedly from baseline during PD, but not after parturition. Rearing showed an effect only on the nearest neighbors, with mother-reared young goats staying closer together. Our results indicate that young goats experience less social stress when being introduced into a herd of adult dairy goats shortly after parturition and with kids still present rather than during the dry period. Whether this effect is due to the period and lactational stage itself or to the presence of kids needs to be tested in future studies.

Ketonemia in dairy goats: Effect of dry period length and effect on lying behavior

“…Further work examining the feeding behavior of does directly after kidding in more controlled settings is encouraged. Finally, because low ranking (Andersen and Bøe, 2007) and younger (Szabò et al, 2013) does tend to be most affected by constraints and changes in their environment, future work should consider social status and age.…”

Effects of mother versus artificial rearing during the first 12 weeks of life on challenge responses of dairy cows

“…Cows of the MP treatment not only had contact with their mothers but also with the cow herd, offering them a more diverse social environment with more diverse social experiences, which is likely to affect not only social behaviour (Wagner et al, 2012), but also social motivation later in life. Young replacement dairy goats reared with their mothers showed greater group cohesion when integrated into the lactating herd at the age of about 2 years than artificially reared animals, suggesting higher sociality in these animals (Szabò et al, 2013). Calves reared with access to their mothers and the cow herd (comparable to MP in our experiment) showed a higher motivation to rejoin their social partners in an isolation test and were socially more active in a confrontation test than group-reared, automat-fed calves .…”

Maternal deprivation affects goat kids’ social behavior before and after weaning

“…The animals were able to see but not interact with the observer. The ethogram (Table 1) was based on preexisting literature (Andersen et al., 2011; Collias, 1956; Miranda‐de la Lama & Mattiello, 2010; Rudge, 1970; Szabò et al., 2013) and preliminary observations on another herd of goats (Toinon et al., 2019), focusing on affiliative behaviors seen between dams and kids or other affiliated goats, such as rubbing, grooming, and staying in physical contact, and social play behavior mainly displayed by kids, such as play‐fighting, mounting‐on, and racing. Agonistic behaviors with and without physical contact were also included in the ethogram as well as the nonsocial and inactive behavior resting alone.…”

“…Stepping-on a,b The initiator is standing while having one leg or the torso in contact with the back of the receiver's body, without causing its withdrawal. Any avoidance behavior (Szabò et al, 2013) where one individual (the receiver) withdraws when another (the initiator) approaches it or threatens it by walking or moving the head quickly toward it, presenting its horns or forehead, or manifesting biting.…”

“…This suggests that animals reared with their mothers developed higher social skills than cows reared without their mothers (Wagner et al., 2012) supported by similar findings in calves (Buchli et al., 2017). Primiparous goats that had been reared with their dams until weaning also displayed higher social skills by showing greater social cohesion with known peers when integrated into a herd of unknown lactating goats (Szabò et al., 2013). Therefore, the rearing systems of young mammals can alter their social ontogeny, with possible long‐term effects on the social behavior and welfare of these animals.…”