| Summary: | During a nursing, dairy calves switch from one test to another. It has been suggested that teat-switching occurs when there is a decrease in milk-flow rate from the udder. I tested this hypothesis using a feeding apparatus equipped with 2 artificial teats. When milk flowed at a constant, extremely slow flow rate (0.041/min), calves teat-switched 4 times as often compared to the control (baseline : once/min at 0.661/min). When milk flow was suddenly reduced from baseline to extremely slow or nil , calves responded by switching teats 8-9 times as frequently compared to when milk was not reduced. An additional finding was that, regardless of the treatment, calves butted at a much higher frequency during the first 30 seconds of the meal (ex: baseline : 6 teat-switches/min). The results suggest that calves are sensitive to changes in milk-flow rate and that they respond to a constant or sudden decrease in flow rate by switching teats.
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