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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 50(7)

Maternal behaviour at parturition in outdoor conditions differs only moderately between single-bearing ewes selected for their calm or nervous temperament

S. L. Bickell A , R. Nowak B C D E , P. Poindron B C D E , D. Ferguson F and D. Blache A G
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Animal Biology – M085, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

B INRA, UMR85 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, F-37380 Nouzilly, France.

C CNRS, UMR6175 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, F-37380 Nouzilly, France.

D Université François Rabelais de Tours, F-37041 Tours, France.

E Haras Nationaux, F-37380 Nouzilly, France.

F Livestock Welfare, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Locked Bag 1, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia.

G Corresponding author. Email: dbla@animals.uwa.edu.au

Animal Production Science 50(7) 675-682 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN09118
Submitted: 10 September 2009  Accepted: 19 April 2010   Published: 30 July 2010

Abstract

Maternal and lamb behaviours play a major role in lamb survival and there is evidence that selection for calm temperament may help improve lamb survival by improving maternal behaviour. However, the apparent better maternal behaviour of calm ewes might be due partly to their lower reactivity to the presence of the human observer rather than to better maternal behaviour per se. The extent to which the selection for temperament influenced the behaviour of the ewe and lamb after parturition with minimal human disturbance was investigated in the present work. Single-bearing multiparous and primiparous ewes were observed to determine any interactions of temperament with maternal experience on ewe and lamb behaviours. Postpartum ewe-lamb interactions under outdoor lambing conditions were captured by continuous video recordings by a remote controlled recording device for up to 2 h postpartum. Calm ewes licked their lambs more and tended to stay longer on the birth site. Nervous lambs stood up earlier and were quicker to start performing exploratory behaviour. However, duration of suckling during the observation period did not differ between the calm and nervous lambs. There were no effects of maternal experience on the behaviour of the lamb and there were no interactions between temperament and maternal experience on the behaviour of the ewe or lamb. Our study indicates that temperament does influence the early postpartum behaviour of ewes and lambs under extensive field conditions.


Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the many people that helped with the data collection over the 3 years of study. We are also grateful to Steve Gray the farm manager for his help and advice. This work was supported by the University of Western Australia, Meat and Livestock Australia, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the RSPCA Australia.


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