The Role of Mother-Young Contact in the Development of Maternal Responsiveness in Djallonke Ewes
Journal Title: Journal of Animal Production Advances - Year 2012, Vol 2, Issue 8
Abstract
Observations were made of the maternal responsiveness of 42 single bearing Djallonke ewes to their respective lambs within a 5-minute test period. Mother and young were left together for varying periods (0 hours,6 hours,12 hours, 18 hours and 24 hours postpartum) and separated for 15 minutes prior to testing. The parameters measured were: number of low- pitched bleats by the young, number of acceptance at the udder, suckling time, number of high-pitched bleats, number of rejections at the udder and number of threats and butts directed towards the young. The first three parameters constituted acceptance while the last three constituted rejection. The effects of contact period, parity of the dam, sex and birth weight of the neonate on the aforementioned behavioural parameters were determined using the chi-square procedure. A large proportion (81%) of the ewes accepted their young while the remaining 19% behaved poorly. No significant differences (P>0.05) were observed in maternal responsiveness among all the mother-young contact periods studied. Similarly, parity of the dam, sex and birth weight of the neonate had no significant influence (P>0.05) on maternal responsiveness within the first few hours postpartum.
Authors and Affiliations
I. I. Abdul-Rahman , A. Abdulai , M. Yaro
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP146553
- DOI -
- Views 105
- Downloads 0
Growth and Mortality in Pre and Post-Weaning Rearing Periods for Sudanese Local Rabbits
In the present experiment 230 rabbits (133 in the first generation and 97 in the second generation) were used to investigate body weight from birth to 14 weeks of age (WT0 to WT14), pre and post-weaning weight gain , % o...
Response of Djallonke Lambs to Repeated Separation from Their Dams during the First Week of Lactation: 2. Physiological Response
Physiological response of thirty Djallonke lambs comprising of 14 males and 16 females to repeated separation from their dams were assessed during the first week of lactation. Dams were allowed to go out with their flock...
Feed Utilization of Lactating Does and Pre-weaning Performances of Kids in Republic of Benin
This trial aims at finding out the effect of supplementing the lactating does basic diet (palm frond, with mucuna seed and cotton seed these seeds and a locally made mineral lick on the pre-weaning performances of the ki...
Growth Performance of Weaner Rabbits Fed Cowpea Based Rations as Protein Source
The study was conducted to investigate the effect of varying levels of cowpea in maize diets on the performance of weaner rabbits. Twenty-four mongrel rabbits of both sexes, 4 – 5 weeks old with an average weight of 624g...
Prevalence of Tuberculosis in a Herd of Cattle of a Tuberculous Herdman following trace back Information from a Hospital in Taraba State, Nigeria
Prevalence of bovine tuberculosis was determined in a herd of apparently healthy 17 pastoralist Bunaji cattle in Jalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State using a Single Cervical Comparative Tuberculin test of bovine...