Abstract

In New Zealand venison production systems crossbreeding red hinds with wapiti stags is very common. The resultant wapiti-red crossbred offspring is a larger, fastergrowing animal than its red counterpart. How do these crossbred progeny grow faster on a red hind? We hypothesised that the crossbred progeny would have increased milk intakes, which would be reflected in increased suckling of their red hind dams. A pasture based lactation experiment was conducted over the 'natural' (non-weaned) suckling period (birth Nov/Dec. to Sep.) with F1 wapiti-red crossbred single and twin calves (n=11) naturally reared by red hinds (n=9), and red calves (n=8) naturally reared by red hinds (n=8). Suckling behaviour was observed at least one day per month between dawn and dusk. Suckling bout frequency, duration and time of day were recorded for all calves and any allosuckling was also noted. We found no significant differences (p >0.05) in suckling bout time, frequency or total time spent suckling between red or wapiti crossbred offspring. The only confirmed allosuckling was between individuals from different sets of twins. The F1 wapiti-red crossbred offspring were 30% heavier, with growth rates up to 39% greater than their red cohorts. These results have interesting implications for the red hind crossbred calf venison production system; do the wapitired crossbred calves consume more milk? If so how do they influence the hind’s milk production? Do they consume more pasture and/or substitute it for milk? Better understanding of these factors should help increase calf growth rates during lactation.

JF, Ward, JA Archer, KT O'Neill, and RP Littlejohn

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 67, Wanaka, 237-241, 2007