Periparturient behaviour of the West African Dwarf goat

Abstract

The periparturient behaviour of 63 pregnant does and their kids was studied. The behavioural characteristics investigated were incidence of prepartum isolation and restlessness, time taken for new born kids to stand and to start sucking. Apart from these behavioural parameters, the time of parturition, duration of labour, and duration of grooming were also investigated. The results were analyzed for the effects of parity of dam and type of birth on these characteristics. All the does showed prepartum restlessness and about 90 per cent of them actively isolated themselves. Most parturitions (82.per cent) occurred during daytime. Labour on the average lasted for about 10 min. On the average, it took kids about 13 min after birth to stand up and an additional 2 min to start sucking. Parity of the damand the type of birth did not significantly affect any of the characteristics studied.


Ghana Jnl.agric. Sci Vol.32(1), 1999: 95-100