She was continuously and frequently suckled/stimulated by other fellow heifers. The repeated teat stimulation activated the neuroendocrine pathway.
How and Why?
That’s very interesting. The question is, how was lactation induced? Were female hormones injected, or something else? I conducted such a physiological study on heifers in Germany 40 years ago, and the heifers produced milk. Question raised by shehadeh kaskous
It happened naturally; the other heifers started suckling and induced lactogenesis. I shifted and separated her from the heifers, and now she is longing, same as calling calf 😁(I replied)
This requires further investigation. How old was the animal when it was suckled by the others? Was mammogenesis therefore already complete? shehadeh kaskous
She was 3 years old when she was noticed being suckled by other heifers, but we ignore because such cases happen from time to time. But this one is a very special case; we chased her to bring her for breeding because she reached the breeding period (4years). But I noticed her udder is full of milk, and she behaves like a mother camel. Yes, here mammogenesis is complete. Today, we started milking, and she produced 2 liters of milk already in the first milking. We will put her in breeding cum milking pen to make her dry and save her from mastitis. (my reply)
Kaskous, S., Grün, E., Mielke, H. and Lochman, G. (1995). Investigations on the artificial induction of lactation in 12- to 19-month-old heifers, with special reference to changes of the concentrations of sexual hormones and lactogenic proteohormones in blood plasma. Berl. Münch.Tierärztl. Wschr. 108, P. 326-332. (In Germany). Reference to shehadeh kaskous work on cow heifers in Germany.
Kaskous, S., Grün, E. and Mielke, H. (1995). Investigations on the composition of milk after artificial induction of lactation in 12 to 19 months old heifers. Berl. Münch.Tierärztl. Wschr. 108, P. 333-338. (In Germany).
A true camel herder (Bedouin from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Mr. Saed Al Rasasmah, endorsed this phenomenon and replied as ‘that is absolutely possible… and I have seen it more than once. Emotionally driven. Saeed AlRasasmah
Pierre-Guy Marnet, Professor of physio-pathology of lactating ruminants and precision breeding, replied as ‘it is a natural phenomenon that we are studying now in France for a PhD thesis.
Our model is a goat in which some days of manual udder stimulation can induce lactation without hormones or pregnancy. It was recorded in women for adoption and, in some scarce cases, in cows.
Nervous pregnancy,” as frequently used for dogs and cats, is natural gland mammogenesis due to sexual hormones secreted during the follicular stage of the estrous cycle. If the glands are not stimulated, lactation would not be induced. In this case, it is also a possibility. Sucking a gland already primed by ovarian steroids during the estrous période can induce lactation.
Conclusion
This is a true field report, and she is now producing more than 2 kg of milk per day, some days even more. I have noticed such a case for the first time in my life while working with camels for the last 30 years. But the Bedouins told me that it is not an uncommon phenomenon.
