The effects of "holding" on some blood parameters in goats.

One young male and five female goats aged from four months to mature full-mouthed were handled by stroking and raising the jugular vein intermittently for one minute each day for four days. A control group was kept in a similar pen out of sight of the test group for the four days and approached only when attended for pen cleaning and feeding. On the fifth day, heparinised blood samples were taken once hourly for a period of three hours by jugular venepuncture from both groups. After processing, the samples were examined for packed cell volumes, plasma and erythrocyte potassium and sodium concentrations. Analysis of variance of the data showed a significant (P less than 0.01) reduction in erythrocyte potassium concentration in the unhandled group (76.3 mmol/l to 74.2 mmol/l) from Time 0 to Time 1, and a similarly significant increase in levels in the handled group (73.7 mmol/l to 78.0 mmol/l) from Time 0 to Time 1. There was also a significant difference (P less than 0.05) in packed cell volumes between the unhandled and handled groups at Time 0 and Time 1 (28.6% v 25.2% and 27.6% v 25.0% respectively). There were no significant differences between the two groups in plasma sodium, plasma potassium or erythrocyte sodium.