References
Doe and kid activity in the first hours of life
Abstract
Background:
Currently there is little to no published data describing the behaviours of does and kids on UK dairy farms immediately following parturition.
Aims:
This small study explored behaviour expressed by does and kids in the period immediately following parturition and tentatively identified potential areas for future study of goat behaviour in UK dairy systems. It aimed to develop an ethogram and trial this ethogram by recording activities of kids and their does in the first hours following parturition on a UK dairy goat farm.
Methods:
Five does were each observed for a period of 248 minutes, alongside their 10 kids. Observations began shortly after does were confined in pens with their kids and the kids had been fed colostrum via stomach tube. Doe and kid activities were recorded at 2-minute intervals.
Results:
The most prevalent activities observed in kids were ‘lying down’ and ‘searching for a teat’. The most prevalent activities observed in does were ‘grooming’ and ‘standing neutrally’. Does spent most of the first hours of the kids’ life grooming, then feeding and lying down later. Kids started searching for a teat within 1 hour after being fed colostrum by stomach tube but took much longer to successfully suckle.
Conclusion:
The ethogram proved practical to use, and lessons learned from this trial could be used to develop further behavioural studies.
The importance of colostrum intake (Sawyer et al, 1977; O'Brien and Sherman, 1993) and the maternal bond (Nowak, 1996) in the first hours of life in small ruminants is known to be highly influential for survival. To date there are few studies observing doe and kid activity following parturition. Lickliter (1985) observed 60 Saanen does and their offspring in the periparturient period and Ramirez et al (1998) observed 65 Murciano Granadina kids in the first hour after birth, under more extensive, uninterrupted conditions in the USA and Spain.
Understanding doe and kid activities could guide developments in husbandry practices, utilising the doe's instincts to both improve goat welfare by allowing expression of bonding behaviours (Webster, 2011) and reducing kid mortality by maximising colostrum intakes (O'Brien and Sherman, 1993).
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