EFFECTS OF IMMEDIATE AND EARLY POSTPARTUM SEPARATION ON MAINTENANCE OF MATERNAL RESPONSIVENESS IN PARTURIENT MULTIPAROUS GOATS

The subject of study consisted of the determination of the effects of separation, either immediate or after brief mother-young post-partum c ontact, on the maintenance of the maternal response in multiparous goa ts of Murciano-Granadina breed, having eliminated every visual, olfact ory, auditory, or taste stimulus that could be used as a reminder by t he mother, Fifty goats and their 82 kids were used in the study. The g oats were kept away from their kids for 1/2 or 1 h when the separation took place immediately after birth, and for 1, 8, or 24 h when it too k place after a brief 5-min post-partum contact between mother and you ng. At the end of the separation both were put together in a stall. Th e half-hour following the reunion was recorded on video tape, The resu lts have shown that, as for an immediate post-partum separation, the m aternal response is maintained (10/10) after a separation of 1/2 h, Ho wever, the response is null (0/10) after 1-h separations. After a brie f mother-young post-partum contact, the results show that there is mat ernal response after separations of 1 and 8 h (10/10), On the other ha nd, a separation of 24 h brings about the extinction of that maternal response (10/10) and breaks any mother-young ties that may have been e stablished during that brief period of initial contact.