Behavioural study of a progeny of a bull clone

Abstract Behaviour of progeny of a bull clone was compared to that of offspring from the donor bull. A total of fifteen Friesian female calves were used. Seven of them were progeny of a bull clone (CLp) and eight were offspring from its donor bull (DONp). During the collection of blood samples for hemocromocytometric analysis, behavioural response of calves to restraint was examined. Calves were individually restrained for blood sampling at 24–48 h, and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks of age. Number of struggling movements (STR) and vocalisations (VO) occurring within the first minute of blood sampling were recorded by direct observation. The calves were also monitored at 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and between 5th and 8th week of age for lying, standing, nutritive and non-nutritive oral, sniffing, self-grooming behaviours and vocalisation. Each calf was observed in a morning and an afternoon time band, each lasting 3 h. No difference was found between CLp and DONp on the overall mean for STR and VO at restraint. The study of general behaviour did not reveal difference between CLp and DONp for the average proportion of any of the considered traits. Our results suggest that the adaptive ability of progeny of cloned bull to challenges and conditions imposed by a farm environment are comparable to what is normally observed in dairy calves reared under similar conditions.