Colostrum quality of ewes of calm temperament is not responsible for low lamb mortality
K. W. Hart A B D , A. Chadwick A , F. Sebe C , P. Poindron C , R. Nowak C and D. Blache AA School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
B Department of Agriculture Western Australia, 10 Dore St, Katanning, WA 6317, Australia.
C UMR 6175 INRA-CNRS-Université de Tours-Haras Nationaux, INRA, 37 380 Nouzilly, France.
D Corresponding author. Email: khart@agric.wa.gov.au
Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46(7) 827-829 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA05348
Submitted: 19 November 2005 Accepted: 8 April 2006 Published: 8 June 2006
Abstract
Perinatal lamb mortality is a serious issue for the sheep industries. Starvation is implicated in many of these lamb deaths. Ewes with a calm temperament lose significantly fewer lambs than ewes with nervous temperament, particularly in the critical first 3 days after birth. Colostrum provides essential nutrition to neonatal lambs. This research set out to determine whether ewe temperament affects the quantity and quality of colostrum that ewes produce. Calm temperament was found to have an influence on the viscosity of colostrum 6 h after birth. High variability in all aspects of colostrum production were found in the study and may be a limiting factor in lamb survival in certain circumstances. There is little evidence, however, to suggest a strong association with ewe temperament and is therefore unlikely to explain the lower lamb mortality that is reported to occur among calm ewes.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr Roberta Bencini for technical assistance in the use of the Milkoscan 133. We also offer thanks to Mario D’Antuono for his assistance in the statistical analysis and to Steve Gray for all of his assistance and input with the on farm activities. This research was supported by Meat and Livestock Australia project AHW.085.
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