• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.60 no.4
• /
• pp.16.1-16.11
• /
• 2018

Background: In their first days of life, dairy calves in artificial rearing systems often have difficulty using an artificial teat for feeding. Methods: We examined the age at which calves are able to stand up voluntarily and suckle 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 versus a glucose-coated teat (taste test) and 2) a plain teat versus a teat with a "Freshly Cut Grass" odor (odor test). Results: On average, the calves were able to stand up voluntarily and suckle from the second or third day of age on. The "Freshly Cut Grass" odor had no significant effect on their suckling behavior. In contrast, 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 behavior. Conclusion: 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.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.902-906
• /
• 2017

Objective: This study was conducted to characterize the behaviors and the body weight of suckling piglets in different social environments. Methods: Two groups of sows and suckling piglets housed either in individual farrowing crates in separate pens ($1.8{\times}2.4m$, the control group) or in groups of three sows with their piglets in farrowing crates in a large common enclosure ($5.4{\times}2.2m$, the treatment group) were observed with the aid of video technology for 9 consecutive hours on days 1, 2, and 3, after mixing. Results: Suckling, agonistic, and elimination behaviors of suckling piglets were significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group. Inactive behavior was higher in the treatment group than in the control group. Most of the effects of the social environment on the suckling piglets seem to be the result of large reductions in behaviors and body weight for piglets switching from high activity to low activity. Moreover, suckling behavior and birth body weight were highly correlated with body weight at the end of the test. Conclusion: The social environment that resulted from mixing, thus, had significant effects on the behavior and body weight of suckling piglets, and behavioral characteristics, therefore, should be considered when making improvements to the husbandry and care methods used in swine production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.28 no.11
• /
• pp.1662-1668
• /
• 2015

We investigated differences between effects of natural- and bucket-suckling methods on basal serum oxytocin (OT) and cortisol concentrations, and the effect of OT concentration on affiliative and investigative behavior of calves to a novel object. Ten Japanese Black calves, balanced with birth order, were allocated evenly to natural-suckling (NS) and bucket suckling (BS) groups. Blood samples were collected at the ages of 1 and 2 months (1 week after weaning) calves, and serum OT and cortisol concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and enzymeimmunoassay tests, respectively. Each calf at the age of 2 months (2 weeks after weaning) was released into an open-field with a calf decoy, and its investigative and affiliative behaviors were recorded for 20 minutes. In 1-month-old calves, the basal serum OT concentration ($25.5{\pm}4.9$ [mean${\pm}$standard deviation, pg/mL]) of NS was significantly higher than that of BS ($16.9{\pm}6.7$) (p<0.05), whereas the basal cortisol concentration ($5.8{\pm}2.5$ [mean${\pm}$standard deviation, ng/mL]) of NS was significantly lower than that in BS ($10.0{\pm}2.8$) (p<0.05). Additionally, a negative correlation was noted between serum OT and cortisol concentrations in 1-month-old calves (p = 0.06). Further, the higher serum OT concentration the calves had at 1 month old, the more investigative the calves were at 2 months old but not affiliative in the open-field with a calf decoy. Thus, we concluded that the natural suckling method from a dam elevates the basal serum OT concentration in calves, and high serum OT concentrations induce investigative behavior and attenuate cortisol concentrations.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.627-632
• /
• 2003

Piglets communicate with their sow by using special sounds and synchronize their suckling behavior with their mother’s grunting. This study sought to find an effective sound for controlling the nursing/suckling behavior of pigs. Eighteen crossbred Landrace${\times}$Yorkshire sows and their piglets were studied on days 1, 7, and 14 post-partum. The parity of the sows was three or four. The litter size ranged from 9 to 11, with a mean of 10.4 piglets. Thirty minutes after the end of the last suckling, either the nursing-suckling sound (NSS) or the nursing-suckling sound + click sound (NSSCS) was played for 90 s randomly, and this experiment was repeated three times. The behavior of the sows and their piglets was recorded using camcorders and observed each second. When comparing NSS and NSSCS, there was less lying and sleeping and more sitting, standing, walking, and massaging when NSSCS was played than when NSS was played. These results suggest that NSSCS may induce more nursing and suckling in pigs than NSS.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.191-194
• /
• 2002

The nursing vocalization of domestic pigs(Landrace$\times$Yorkshire) was investigated with respect to common features. All vocalizations uttered during nursings in 5 sows at 5 days after farrowing were recorded and 305 grunts were processed in a spectrograph. The sow's repeated grunting during nursing can be regarded as a contact call and a signal of the mother to start and synchronize the suckling behavior of the piglets. Analysis in the time domain revealed the gross structure of the call, whereas in the frequency domain the fine structure of single grunts was investigated. Nursing interval, duration of nursing behavior, duration of grunt, grunt rate per 10 seconds, fundamental frequency, 1 formant, 2 formant, 3 formant, 4 formant and spectrum were investigated. The results showed that mean interval between the nursing following one another was 25, 4.6 min and duration of nursing behavior was 3.2 $\pm$ 0.7 min. Average duration of grunt was 203.9 $\pm$ 63.6 ms. The formant contours could be identified. The nursing behavior might be disturbed by the grunts of alien sow.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.89-96
• /
• 2007

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of parity and postpartum day on the behavior of nursing sows and their suckling piglets. Total 36 Landrace or Yorkshire sows(range of parity: 1 to 8) and their litters(range of litter size: 11 to 13 piglets) were assigned with sow's parity($1{\sim}2,\;3{\sim}4$ and 5 or more) and sow's postpartum days(day 1, 7, 14 and 21). The sows were housed in farrowing crates($0.6{\times}2.1m$) located in pens($2.4{\times}1.8m$) with totally perforated flooring. The sows and piglets were conventionally managed. The sows and their piglets behaviors were recorded during the 24 hour period at 1, 7, 14 and 21 days of postpartum. The obtained results from this study were as follows; 1. All the nursing sows in both group made attempts for lateral tying more than for other behaviors for whole days. The order of behavioral frequency at 1 and 3 weeks postpartum according the days of postpartum of sows was lateral tying, ventral lying, standing, sitting, feeding and drinking. The nursing sows at day 1 postpartum spent more time on sitting and standing than the sows at day 7 or more postpartum. 2. The parity of sows did not affected the lateral tying and sitting behavior of nursing sows, however the ventral tying are lowed in $1{\sim}2$ parity of sow group than the other parity group. Standing, feeding and drinking behavior of sows was not showed at any trends according to the sow's parity. 3. In the behaviors of suckling piglets, lying was increased and unsuccessful suckling was decreased until 21 days postpartum. Compared to the 7, 14 and 21 day postpartum, piglets at the 1 day postpartum spent less time for lying and walking, whereas they spent much more time for unsuccessful suckling. 4. According th the sow's parity, their piglets tying and unsuccessful suckling was lowed in $1{\sim}2$ parity sow group, however more than 3 parity sow's piglets behavior are not affected.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.909-914
• /
• 2006

The goal of this study was to investigate the behavior of sows and their piglets reared using the non-all-in all-out system and the all-in all-out system during a 3-week lactation period. The 24 Landrace${\times}$Yorkshire sows (range of parity: 2 to 4) and their litters (range of litter size: 8 to 13 piglets) for each treatment (8 sows/replication) were used in this experiment. The sows were housed in farrowing crates ($0.6{\times}2.1m$) located in pens ($2.4{\times}1.8m$) with totally perforated metal flooring. The crates were kept in an experimental room that was thermostatically controlled to approximately $23^{\circ}C$. A 250-W infrared heat lamp was turned on above the creep area during lactation. The sows and piglets were conventionally managed. The animals were recorded during a 24-h period at 1, 4, 7, 14 and 21 days postpartum. The videotapes were scanned every minute to obtain an instantaneous behavioral sample. In the behaviors of sows, lateral recumbency decreased and ventral recumbency increased from 1 day postpartum to 21 days postpartum. In comparison to the AIAOS, sows in the NAIAOS spent much less time on lateral recumbency (p<0.01), whereas they spent much more time on ventral recumbency and sitting at 4 days postpartum (p<0.05 and p<0.05). In the behaviors of piglets, lying increased and unsuccessful suckling decreased until 21 days postpartum. Compared to the AIAOS at 4 days postpartum, piglets in the NAIAOS spent less time lying (p<0.01), whereas they spent much more time walking and unsuccessful suckling (p<0.01 and p<0.05). These results suggest that the all-in all-out system may be preferable to the non-all-in all-out system for promoting welfare.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.451-459
• /
• 2011

Purpose: In this study the effects of breast massage on breast pain, breast-milk sodium, and newborn suckling in early postpartum mothers were investigated. Methods: The design was a non-synchronized nonequivalent control group pretest-post-test design. Sixty postpartum mothers who were admitted to a postpartum care center and had problems with breastfeeding were recruited. Of these mothers, 44 were assigned to the intervention group and received two 30-minute breast massages within 10 days of postpartum period. The others were assigned control group and received only routine care. Breast pain was measured using a numeric pain scale and number of times newborns suckled was observed throughout breastfeeding. Breast milk was self-collected to evaluate breast-milk sodium. Results: Mean age of postpartum mothers was 30 years old. Compared to the control group, women in the intervention group reported significant decreases in breast pain (p<.001), increases in number of times newborns suckled after the first and second massage (p<.001), and a decrease in breast-milk sodium after the first massage (p=.034). Conclusion: Breast massage may have effects on relieving breast pain, decreasing breast-milk sodium, and improving newborn suckling. Breast massage can be used to solve breast problems. Further research is needed to validate our findings.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.691-696
• /
• 2005

Suckling piglets must avoid positions with high air velocity because they don’t have hypodermic fat. Therefore this study examined the effects of air ejection on the behaviors of sows and their piglets. Compressed air was released for 5s at 5s intervals between floor and udder of sows only when they were standing or sitting. Sixteen multiparous crossbred(Landrace×Yorkshire) sows and their piglets were used. Behaviors of sixteen sows and their piglets were recorded for 4 days postpartum, using the LED lamp(wavelength:950nm), CCD camera(Samsung SDC-411), multiplexer(Samsung SDM-080), and time lapsed VCR(Samsung SRV-30). The videotapes were scanned every 30s to obtain an instantaneous behavioral sample. The sow’s standing and sitting rates between control group(CG) and air ejection group(AEG) were not significantly different(P＞0.05). This means that air ejection does not affect the behavior of sows. Frequency of the suckling piglets’ behaviors closely related to the crushing by sows was lower in AEG than in CG(P＜0.05). These results suggest that air ejection may be available for reduction of the crushing of suckling piglets by sows.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.243-246
• /
• 2018

A 2-day-old Thoroughbred foal weighing 58 kg was admitted to the Equine Hospital of Korea Racing Authority (KRA) Jeju Stud Farm with clinical signs including loss of suckling behavior and barking. Neonatal encephalopathy (NE) was diagnosed based on history and typical clinical signs of NE. The foal seemed to recover in 5 days of intensive care and treatment but then was complicated with the septic arthritis of left hock joint on the $6^{th}$ day of admission. A course of aggressive systemic antimicrobial therapy with joint lavage for 8 days was conducted and the foal was fully recovered and discharged. The follow up on the patient after 2 years revealed that the patient achieved a great success as a racehorse without any unexpected sequel. This report describes a course of NE complicated with septic arthritis in a foal and the clinical outcome of the intensive care and treatment in detail. To our knowledge, this is the first report which describes NE complicated with septic arthritis in a foal in Republic of Korea.