Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10891854 | Theriogenology | 2015 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
The knowledge of normal pregnancy length, duration of parturition stages, and neonatal early adaptation is mandatory for a rationale management of birth, especially in monotocous species with long gestations. This study reports data obtained from a large number of Martina Franca jennies with normal healthy pregnancies and spontaneous eutocic delivery of a mature, healthy, and viable donkey foal. Pregnancy lasts, on average, 371Â days, and only the fetal gender significantly determines pregnancy length, with longer gestations observed in jennies bearing male fetuses. Other factors such as the year of foaling, month of ovulation, month of parturition, birth weight of the foal, and age of the jenny did not influence pregnancy length. The first stage of foaling lasted on average 65Â minutes, the second stage 19Â minutes, and the third stage 58Â minutes. The umbilical cord ruptured on average within 16Â minutes after birth; the foal stood up in 61Â minutes and suckled the colostrum for the first time within 10Â minutes after birth and again after 143Â minutes of birth; meconium passage occurred, on average, 86Â minutes after birth. Although times reported for the process of foaling are similar to data reported for the horse, the times for early neonatal donkey foal adaptation are longer as compared to the horse foal.
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Authors
Augusto Carluccio, Alessia Gloria, Maria Cristina Veronesi, Ippolito De Amicis, Federico Noto, Alberto Contri,