SEASON INFLUENCE ON DRINKING BEHAVIOR IN THREE MONTHS OF AGE CALVES FROM ROMANIAN BLACK AND WHITE BREED
Keywords:
calves, drinking behavior, Romanian Black and White breedAbstract
The aim of this paper was to measure the main aspects that characterize the drinking
behavior of three months old calves. During the experiments the following drinking
behavior aspects were determined: number of drinking periods, the length of drinking
periods. Results showed that in the winter season the total length of drinking periods
was 7.0 minutes in the morning, 5.1 minutes in the afternoon and 2.4 minutes during
the night. In the summer (high temperatures) the total length of drinking periods was
7.9 minutes in the morning, 10.0 minutes in the afternoon and only 4.0 minutes
during the night. In the summer (normal temperatures) the total length of drinking
periods was 5.8 minutes in the morning, 7.9 minutes in the afternoon and only 4.4
minutes during the night. Calves spent drinking on average 14.5 minutes in the
winter, representing 1% of a day length. Calves spent drinking on average 21.9
minutes in the summer when the temperatures were very high, respectively 1.5% of a
day length. Calves spent drinking on average 18.1 minutes during the summer when
temperatures were normal (1.3%).
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