Cow-calf behaviour in relation to first suckling.

For the newborn calf, the length of time between birth and when (and if) it manages to obtain its first suckle plays an important role in the acquisition of passive immunity. In a study of 21 pairs of dairy cows and their calves, loose housed in individual calving boxes, the calves suckled for the first time at a median of four hours, nine minutes after birth. Nineteen suckled within 12 hours, with a range between 50 minutes and 11 hours, 44 minutes. Calves that were active early usually suckled early. However, irrespective of the start of a calf's activities, long pauses while teat seeking played a decisive role in the time of the first suckling. Factors which affected the periodicity and length of these pauses would therefore greatly influence the time of the first suckling.