Reproduction in Domestic Animals

Reprod Dom Anim 43 (Suppl. 2), 213–216 (2008); doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0531.2008.01164.xISSN 0936-6768Mother–Offspring Interactions in Zebu CattleMJR Paranhos da Costa 1,2 , A Schmidek 1,3 and LM Toledo 1,41 Grupo ETCO – Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisas em Etologia e Ecologia Animal; 2 Departamento de Zootecnia, FCAV-UNESP; 3 Programa de Po´sGraduaça˜o em Gene´tica e Melhoramento Animal, Faculdade de Cieˆncias Agra´rias e Veterina´rias, UNESP, Jaboticabal; 4 APTA, Po´lo Regional doVale do Ribeira, UPD Registro, Sa˜o Paulo, BrazilContentsThe knowledge of the interaction between mother andoffspring might contribute to enhance the welfare of theoffspring and to improve the reproductive efficiency of thecow. However, there is still little information available aboutsuch interaction in some cattle breeds. A series of observationalstudies were set up, addressing the mother–offspringrelationships of Nelore, Guzerat and Gyr cattle breeds. Firstly,the behaviour of cows and calves around the time ofparturition was described, and then, the underlying factorsthat affect the calves’ survival and development were studied.Special attention was given to the failure or delay in the firstsuckling. The results together are indicative of geneticvariability for some studied variables, indicating the possibilityof selection for calf vigour (using latency to stand up andlatency to suckle as its indicators) and maternal ability (usingpercentage of time in contact with the calves), in spite of theestimates of heritability were low and presented high standarddeviation for all variables. The individual variability in theirsuckling behaviour and the efficiency in first suckling cannot beexplained by a single isolated underlying factor. By now, thereare some results available, although there are many questionswithout answers. The field is still open for the development offuture research.IntroductionThe adaptation of a newborn calf to the extra-uterineenvironment is clearly dependent to the expression ofappropriate behaviour, presented by itself and by itsmother. It must stand up and suckle as soon as possible,while its mother must take care of it, licking, protectingagainst predators and remaining quiet, standing, whenthe calf tries to get the teat into its mouth and suckle(Lidfors 1994; Fraser and Broom 1997; Paranhos daCosta and Cromberg 1998). The importance of thesebehaviours for the calves’ survival has been reported(Schmidek 2003; Ribeiro et al. 2007), and when amother licks its offspring it also stimulates the calf’srespiratory and circulatory systems, removes the foetalmembranes from its body and stimulates the defecationand urination (Lidfors 1994; Fraser and Broom 1997).The first suckling must occur soon after calving, and thelack or delay of it increases the incidence of calfmortality (Paranhos da Costa and Cromberg 1998;Schmidek et al. 2008).Quality and intensity of maternal behaviour dependson a complex interaction among genetic, physiologicalfactors and maternal experience (Edwards and Broom1982; Lawrence and Fowler 1997; Paranhos da Costaand Cromberg 1998).After the recognition of its own offspring, a cowusually does not allow other calves to suckle. However,some previous studies described the occurrence ofallosuckling in cattle (when a cow allows other calf,than its own, to suckle), ranging from 3.0% (Lewandrowskiand Hurnik 1983; Das et al. 2000) to 19.02% ofthe total suckling events (Víchova´ and Bartosˇ 2005), butit seems to be rare in Zebu cattle (Paranhos da Costaet al. 2006a).Theoretically, these variations could be resultant frommany causal factors, genetic and environmental. This isa vague statement and does not help to understand thebiological phenomenon neither to solve the practicalproblems resulting from it. There are some empiricalevidences that, under restricted milk and space conditions,the probability of allosuckling increases in waterbuffalo (Murphey et al. 1991, 1995) and the fact thatallosuckling increases the competition for milk amongwater buffalo calves (Paranhos da Costa et al. 2000).This statement is, in some extension, supported by theresults with cattle, for example, Paranhos da Costa et al.(2006a) studied Zebu cattle kept in free-range conditions,the cows were not milked and the calves had freeaccess to suckle, and under these conditions, the authorsdid not record any single case of allosuckling. On thecontrary, the studies of Lewandrowski and Hurnik(1983), Das et al. (2000) and Vı´chova´ and Bartosˇ (2005)reported the occurrence of allosuckling in cattle, andunder their studies conditions, the cows and calves hadsome restriction in space and milk availability. In spiteof the research interests on this subject, for theoreticaland practical reasons, the underlying factors of allosucklingand its role on the rate of calf survival and calfperformance are still not well explained.The mother–offspring relationships of cattle are stillnot well understood in many aspects, probably becauseof the complex scenario and the challenging situationsinvolved on their expression. The aim of this article is topresent some results achieved through the behaviouralstudies of Zebu cattle in Brazil and to introduce somepractical recommendations about how to improve themanagement based on these studies.The Importance of the Behavioural Studies toIncrease Reproductive EfficiencyThe reproductive (and economic) efficiency of a cow isdirectly dependent of the survival of its offspring. Theknowledge of the mother and offspring behaviour isimportant to identify situations that could increase therisk of calf weakness, abandon or death, giving theopportunity for one to develop appropriate strategies tominimize these problems and the respective economicÓ 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation Ó 2008 Blackwell Verlag