In their first days of life, dairy calves in artificial rearing systems often have difficulty using an artificial teat for feeding. I examined the age at which calves are able to stand up and suckle without lifting assistance, as well as their suckling behavior when presented with a plain dry teat versus a dry teat modified with a presumably attractive odor or taste substance. Single-housed newborn dairy calves (n = 51) were presented for ten consecutive days with a two-minute two-choice test, in which suckling time was recorded for 1) a plain (control) teat vs. a glucose-coated teat (taste test) and 2) a plain teat vs. a teat with a "Freshly Cut Grass" odor (odor test). On average, the calves were able to suckle without lifting assistance from the second or third day of age on. The "Freshly Cut Grass" odor had no significant effect on their suckling behavior. The calves showed a significant preference for suckling the glucose-coated teat and displayed a significantly longer total suckling time in the taste test compared to the odor test. There were no significant differences between sexes regarding suckling preference. The results of the present study show that glucose had a significant effect on the calves' teat preference and significantly increased total suckling time with a dry artificial teat. As such, glucose may increase suckling motivation in non-efficient drinkers or ill calves with low motivation to suckle.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-137706 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Malidaki, Maria |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Biologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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