The effects of alternative weaning methods on behaviour in beef calves

Enríquez, Daniel; Ungerfeld, Rodolfo; Quintans, G.; Guidoni, A. L.; Hötzel, María José

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2009.10.007

Cited by 83 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…nose flaps, and the second after permanent separation (Enríquez et al, 2010;Hötzel et al, 2012). This, however, does not seem to be the case in cows, in which the only response observed after fitting the nose flaps was a small, short-lived increase in vocalizations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Treatment groups and experimental periods On day 0 of the experiment, the calves assigned to the nose flap treatment (NF group, 12 cow-calf pairs) were fitted with anti-sucking nose-flap devices made of flexible plastic, measuring 12.5 × 12.5 cm (El Destete, Buenos Aires, Argentina; see picture in Enríquez et al, 2010). Nose-flaps prevent the calves from accessing the teats but allow them to graze, consume ration, drink water and allow the calves to remain near their dams (Hötzel et al, 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Behaviours of individual cows were recorded as reported by Enríquez et al (2010), using direct, visual instantaneous sampling, at 10 min intervals. The cows were tagged and large numbers were painted on both sides of the body.…”

Section: Behaviour Recordingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In each scan the following cow behaviours were recorded for each cow: standing, walking, lying, grazing, nursing and pacing. Vocalizations were recorded as in previous studies (Enríquez et al 2010;Ungerfeld et al, 2011), for a 30 s period every 10 min, using zero/one sampling (Lehner, 1996). At the end of each 30-s period each cow was assigned either a 1 (if it had vocalized) or a 0 (if it had not vocalized).…”

Section: Behaviour Recordingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may be done using nose flaps that prevent the calf from sucking (Haley et al, 2005), thereby separating the end of the access to the udder and milk ingestion from the physical separation from the dam. When it is applied in association with traditional weaning (usually when the calf is between 5 and 6 months old), this weaning method reduces the behavioural stress response of the cow (Ungerfeld et al, 2015) and the calf (Enríquez et al, 2010). It is thus possible that this method could also attenuate the response at early weaning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Minimizing cows’ stress when calves were early weaned using the two-step method with nose flaps

Ungerfeld¹,

Quintans

Hötzel

2016

Animal

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Early weaning may be used in beef cattle production to improve reproduction rates in range conditions. However, weaning causes a stress response in cows, which may be especially strong in early weaning management, as the bond between the cow and the calf is still strong. We hypothesized that weaning calves in two steps, with the aid of anti-sucking devices (nose flaps) would reduce the behavioural stress response in the cows separated from their calves 2 months after parturition. We compared the behaviour frequency and weight change in cows that were weaned abruptly, by separation of the calf on day 0 of the study, or in two steps, consisting of the use of anti-sucking nose flaps for 5 days before permanent separation; a third group was not weaned to serve as control. Thirty-six crossbred multiparous Aberdeen Angus × Hereford cows and their calves (n = 12/treatment) were managed in three paddocks with similar pasture availability, with four dyads from each treatment per paddock. Cows' behaviour was observed by direct visual instantaneous sampling, at 10 min intervals from days −3 to 11. Weaning the calves in two steps clearly attenuated the behavioural stress response observed in abruptly weaned cows, which included reductions in grazing and lying, and increases in pacing, walking and vocalizing. Our results corroborate those previously shown for cows nursing older calves, and indicate that step weaning can reduce the behavioural stress response of cows at weaning, even when the calf is weaned shortly after birth, when the bond between the cow and calf is still very strong.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Behaviour Recordingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Behaviour Recordingsmentioning

confidence: 99%