Post parturient neonatal behaviour and their relationship with maternal behaviour score, parity and sex in Surti buffaloes

Abstract

Present study was conducted to investigate the post parturient behavioural activities of Surti buffaloes (n = 25) and their calves using low light-intensity cameras and digital video recorder at five stages (I: from calving to half an hour, II: 6–6:30 hours, III: 12–12:30 hours, IV: 18–18:30 hours and V: 24–24:30 hours after calving) over a period of 24 h immediately after calving. Based on their maternal behaviour score (MBS) dams were categorized into two classes that is, group 1 (MBS = 1: very aggressive and 2: very attentive) and group 2 (MBS = 3: indifferent and 4: apathetic) where dam scored MBS 1 represented very aggressive and 4 apathetic. Overall eating time was significantly (P < .05) higher in buffalo cows of group 2 (8.87 ± 1.34 min) than in group 1 (5.37 ± 0.50 min). Dams of both the groups spent significantly (P < .05) longer time in sniffing and licking calf’s body and licking ano-genital area of calf during stage I than later stages. Significantly (P < .05) longer time intervals from birth to standing (53.03 ± 3.04 min) were observed in group 2 calves. A positive correlation (P < .01) was observed between the time interval from birth to suckling and duration of active teat seeking (0.525). It may be inferred that post parturient neonatal behaviour have certain level of relationship with maternal behaviour score, whereas, parity and sex did not show any significant effect on MBS in Surti buffaloes.

Keywords

• Maternal behaviour score
• neonatal behaviour
• Surti buffalo