Parasympathetic tone activity, heart rate, and grimace scale in conscious horses of 3 breeds before, during, and after nociceptive mechanical stimulation.

Background: Parasympathetic tone activity (PTA) in response to nociceptive stimulus in conscious non-sedated horses is unknown.

Objectives: Study PTA, heart rate (HR), and horse grimace scale (HGS) at rest and during mechanical nociceptive stimulation.

Animals: Ninety healthy young adult horses (females, males): 30 each of Friesians, Quarter Horses, and Warmbloods.

Sexual behaviour of young rams is improved and less stressful after intranasal administration of oxytocin.

The aim of this study was to determine if intranasal administration of oxytocin modifies sexual behaviour and the stress response in young rams during sexual tests with ewes in oestrus. Ten rams were used in a cross-over design. At Day 0, the control group (CG, n = 5) received isotonic saline spray intranasally, and the treated group (OTG, n = 5) received oxytocin (24 IU) intranasally, 40 min before the sexual test.

Milk let-down in goats can be influenced by the type of stimuli applied or to which goats are exposed during suckling and hand milking.

The present experiments on goats were conducted with the aim of verifying (a) whether the identity of the goat kids can affect the characteristics of milk let-down during suckling (Study 1) and (b) whether the presence of the goat kids may improve the milk let-down during hand milking (Study 2). In Study 1, 16 lactating goats with twins and 12 with single kids were used. Dams with single goat kids ejected more milk when suckling their kids at Days 5 and 20 of lactation, than when suckling aliens.

Regulation of maternal behavior, social isolation responses, and postpartum estrus by steroid hormones and vaginocervical stimulation in sheep.

Periparturient ewes display several activities in addition to maternal behavior per se. They isolate themselves from the flock and, contrary to other mammals, do not show postpartum estrus. We investigated the possibility of a common hormonal control of maternal behavior, prepartum social isolation responses, and absence of postpartum estrus.

Ewe-lamb bond of experienced and inexperienced mothers undernourished during gestation.

The aims were to compare ewe-lamb behaviours between primiparous (PRI) and multiparous (MUL) undernourished grazing ewes at birth and at 3 months of age, and to determine if mothers' parity affects milk yield and composition, and lambs' body weight (BW). Food availability restricted the nutritional requirements from day 30 to day 143 of gestation. The MUL ewes had greater BW than the PRI during gestation, and their lambs tended to vocalize less frequently until their first suckle.

Growth of foetal bones and metabolic profile during gestation in primiparous ewes and multiparous ewes.

Primiparous ewes and multiparous ewes show physiological differences during pregnancy, which can have an impact on the development of their offspring. The objective of this study was to compare the changes in the metabolic profile and in the size of some foetal bones throughout gestation between primiparous and multiparous ewes. Twelve primiparous (PM) ewes and 14 multiparous (MT) ewes were used.

In dual-purpose subtropical goats, 1 h of extra-light given from 16 to 17 h after dawn (pulse of light) in winter stimulates milk yield.

This research communication addresses the hypothesis that in dual-purpose goats, exposure to 1 h of extra-light given from 16 to 17 h after dawn (pulse of light) in winter stimulates milk yield. One group of goats was maintained under natural short photoperiod (natural day; ND (n = 7)). Another group of lactating females was submitted to an artificial long-day photoperiod consisting of 16 h light and 8 h darkness (long days; LD (n = 7)).

Sensory and physiological determinants of maternal behavior in the goat (Capra hircus).

Maternal behavior in the goat appears at the time of parturition, partly under the activating influence of vaginocervical stimulation. Mothers actively lick their neonate and rapidly establish a selective bond with their kid through olfactory recognition. They also develop visual and acoustic recognition of the kid within 4 h following birth.

Early recognition of newborn goat kids by their mother: II. Auditory recognition and evidence of an individual acoustic signature in the neonate.

The vocal recognition of newborn kids by their mother at 2 days postpartum and the possible existence of interindividual differences in the voice structure of newborn kids were investigated in two separate studies. The ability of goats to discriminate between the bleats of their own versus an alien kid was tested at 2 days postpartum in mothers being prevented access to visual and olfactory cues from the young. Goats spent significantly more time on the side of the enclosure from which their own kid was bleating, looked in its direction for longer, and responded more frequently to the bleats of their own than to those of the alien kid (p < 0.

Early recognition of newborn goat kids by their mother: I. Nonolfactory discrimination.

Mother sheep and goats develop an early bond with their neonate on the basis of olfactory recognition. We investigated whether goats were also able to show early (<24 hr postpartum) nonolfactory discrimination of their kids, as already reported in sheep. In a first experiment, we found that goats are not able to recognize their kid at 1 m away on the basis of olfactory cues alone.

Maternal olfaction differentially modulates oxytocin and prolactin release during suckling in goats.

In postparturient goats, olfactory recognition of the young allows the establishment of a selective bond between the mother and her kids. Once this bond is formed, the mother rejects alien young that attempt to suckle. We tested whether the development of the maternal selective bond in goats modulates prolactin (PRL) and oxytocin (OT) release in response to suckling.