Ewe-lamb bond of experienced and inexperienced mothers undernourished during gestation

Abstract

The aims were to compare ewe-lamb behaviours between primiparous (PRI) and multiparous (MUL) undernourished grazing ewes at birth and at 3 months of age, and to determine if mothers’ parity affects milk yield and composition, and lambs’ body weight (BW). Food availability restricted the nutritional requirements from day 30 to day 143 of gestation. The MUL ewes had greater BW than the PRI during gestation, and their lambs tended to vocalize less frequently until their first suckle. PRI ewes both displayed a lower frequency of acceptance behaviours and, a greater number of high-pitched bleats toward the alien lamb than toward that of their own, but MUL did not. PRI ewes produced less milk than the MUL ewes. The heart rate was greater in lambs reared by MUL ewes than by PRI. Although PRI ewes had a lower BW during gestation, this difference was stable throughout and did not affect the establishment of the ewe-lamb bond neither at birth nor at 3 months postpartum. At least under nutritionally restricted conditions during gestation, inexperienced mothers appeared to have had a shorter sensitivity period of maternal responsiveness than that of experienced mothers.

Effect of Dry Season Supplementary Feeding and Parity on Performance of Desert Sheep in North Kordofan State, Sudan

“…Flushing is understood as the rapid increase in ovulation rate of ewes receiving a nutrient supplementation before mating. In this study nutrition (steaming up and supplementation) had improved ewes reproductive traits, where higher conception and lambing rate were notice in supplemented groups, these results agreed with [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] who reported that the highest lambing rates were in ewes that had been both flushed and steamed-up. Flushing and steaming-up had increased prolificacy as observed for Sudanese desert sheep by [32][33].…”

“…Ewes with parity three where heavier during all period of gestation than ewes with parity one and two, this may be that older ewes had complete their body so they less weight loses, the current findings are similar to [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] they stated that there were positive change in body weight for ewes that lambing more than one times, also there were less weight lost after lambing and weaning. [29] reported that primiparous ewes had a lower body weight during gestation compared with multiparous which affects ewe's fertility. Contrast to these results [30] reported a greater effect of ewe live weight on reproductive performance in younger ewes than older ewes.…”

“…[35] stated that nutrient deficiency potentially acts on the reproductive process and affects estrus behavior and ovulation rate. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] reported differences in nutrition probably account for most of the variation in reproductive performance. Also [31] stated that the strategic supplementary feeding of ewes increased lambing rates of ewes, agreed with [37] that poor nutrition leads to reduce conception and lambing rates.…”

What Do We Know and Need to Know About Weaning in Sheep? An Overview of Weaning Practises, Stress and Welfare

“…Ewe-lamb bond implies a close physical relationship during the first days after lambing (Ozella et al, 2022). Several factors may influence the strength of the attachment in lambs [e.g., sex, with female lambs showing a stronger attachment (Gaudin et al, 2015), birthweight (Menant et al, 2020)], and in ewes [e.g., parity (Dwyer and Lawrence, 2000;Freitas-de-Melo et al, 2021a), breed (Lawrence and Dwyer, 1999;Pickup and Dwyer, 2011), and temperament (Catherine and Alistair, 2000)]. In early postpartum, ewes have a strong preference for their lamb; but as the strength of the preference decreases, the preference of the lamb for the dam increases (Hernandez et al, 2009;Maldonado et al, 2015).…”

Correlação Comportamental Da Habilidade Materna E Condições De Partos Em Ovelhas

“…Diversos fatores podem alterar a relação materno-filial de ovelhas e seus cordeiros, como o tempo de estabelecimento do primeiro contato, nutrição da ovelha, tipo de parto e ordem de parto, sendo que esta última influencia significativamente o desenvolvimento inicial dos cordeiros, uma vez que ovelhas primíparas acabam sendo mais estressadas durante esse início de relação materno-filial (SHEN-JIN et al, 2016;PETTIGREW et al, 2019;FREITAS-DE-MELO et al, 2021) A habilidade materna pode ser avaliada tradicionalmente pelo peso dos cordeiros desmamados por ovelha, mas também complementarmente pelo comportamento maternofilial. O comportamento da mãe próximo do cordeiro tem um grande efeito na sua sobrevivência neonatal, e pode também afetar o peso do cordeiro ao desmame e, assim, a produtividade da ovelha (RECH et al, 2008).…”