Welfare in goat kids during the peri-weaning period : endocrine/metabolic asset and functional development

Animal welfare occurs when all those factors that may reduce the ability of an animal to adapt to the environment are avoided. Those factors are named stressors and can be analyzed. Stress can affect the endocrine/metabolic asset, nutritional status, normal growth and development, productivity and even the environmental impact of farm animals. In the life of young ruminants, the most dramatic event is weaning, which often coincides with a period of growth stasis. Weaning is the process of switching young animals from milk to solid feed. This change needs adaptation in digestive activity and in rumen functions. In light of this, the aim of the present study was to evaluate welfare status of goat kids, during the peri-weaning period, with a view to obtaining information that may help to minimize the stress of this crucial period. For this purpose, 11 Saanen goat kids, at birth, were immediately separated from their mothers and divided into two groups: MILK and WMIX. All kids were fed colostrum for the first three days of life. MILK group received goat milk ad libitum for the rest of the study period, while WMIX group was progressively weaned. Weaning program ended on day 48 of age. During the experimental period, physiological parameters were analyzed. Animals’ behaviour and haematic parameters of welfare were also studied. The adopted weaning process minimized the stress of the transition from milk to solid diet. During this transition, milk-borne insulin played a possible role in the development of pancreatic amylase synthesis and activity. Anyway, further studies are required to determine whether milk-borne insulin passes the gastro-intestinal mucosa of suckling kids and contributes to the functional development of the pancreas.