Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
III International and XII National Animal Science Conference, Bursa, Türkiye, 27 - 28 Kasım 2021, cilt.1, ss.86
In this study, the effect of different weaning age on the behavior of Tahirova lambs during short-term social isolation was investigated. The study used 60 twin lambs weaned at an average age of 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Three random groups were formed with 10 females and 10 males in each group. The lambs stayed with their mothers for the first week after birth and then separated from their mothers between 8:00-17:00. Creep feeding system the lambs meeting with their mothers after milking at 17:00 were allowed to pass to the paddock in with their own group mates. The lambs were placed in a 2.5 x 3.5 m2 social isolation chamber, and each group was individually isolated for five minutes, 2 days before the weaning date. The bleating behavior frequency and starting to bleat were taken from a point where the animal did not see the observer. The camera system placed in the isolation chamber was determined from the camera recording by taking sniffing, climbing, bipedal stance, walking to back, turning around, jumping, running, looking up and elimination behaviors. In the social isolation test, according to the groups the behaviors of starting to bleat, bleating, walking back, turning, jumping and running were found to be statistically significant (P≤0.05). While the averages of starting to bleat, bleating, walking to back, turning around, jumping, running were similar in the groups weaned at the age of 8 and 12 weeks, the average behavior of the group weaned at the age of 4 weeks was higher and statistically different from the other two groups (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the social isolation behaviors of female and male lambs (P>0.05). It can be said that the group weaned at the age of 4 weeks experienced more social isolation stress than the groups weaned at the age of 8 and 12 weeks, due to the higher frequency of behavior and earlier onset of bleating.
Keywords: Tahirova, weaning age, bleating, walking to back, turning around