Behavioural changes of Murrah buffalo calves under various upbringing systems

Abstract

In present study, an effort was undertaken to estimate the “Effect of different bedding materials on the behaviour of Murrah buffalo calves”. Twenty buffalo calves (below 4 months of age) were divided into four groups (5 calves in each group), viz. T1: Concrete floor; T2: Concrete floor bedded with sand, T3: Concrete floor bedded with wheat straw, and T4: Concrete floor bedded with rubber mat. Recording of daily activities of calves throughout 8 h (8:00 am to 4:00 pm) for each month (December, January, and February) of two consecutive days representing time spent for particular behavioural activity along with total time spent in the covered area and the open area was recorded. Throughout the trial, a variety of behavioural activities of calves in all treatments was examined. The time spent by calves in the covered area was considerably greater in T3, followed by T1 and T4, and least in the T2 group. Calves raised on the floor made of wheat straw had significantly more lying time in the covered area than those raised on the floor made of rubber mat, concrete, or sand. Similar sleep duration was considerably longer in T3 and T4 than in T2, although the difference between T4 and T1 was not significant. Compared to T1 and T2, moving time in the enclosed area was noticeably shorter in T3 and T4. Feeding time in T3 was likewise noticeably longer than in T1 and T2, although it was not significantly different from T4. The results showed that the T3, T4, and T1, respectively had the best microclimate conditions for calves during the winter, whereas T2 had the poorer microclimatic condition.

Keywords

• Animal welfare, Buffalo calves, Lying time, Rubber mat, Sleeping time, Wheat straw