Is body surface temperature measured on the single lambs’ back a reliable indicator of the ewe-lamb bond around birth?

Menant, Ophélie; Ungerfeld, Rodolfo; Pérez-Clariget, Raquel; Freitas‐de‐Melo, Aline

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102699

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…A delay in this process has negative consequences on lambs' metabolic and hormonal status (Alexander et al, 1986;Nowak et al, 1997Nowak et al, , 2021. Several conditions affect the behaviours implicated in neonatal attachment in sheep, including environmental temperature (Fonsêca et al, 2014); factors related to the ewe, like status during conception (dry or lactating) (Ungerfeld et al, 2021a), nutrition during gestation (Dwyer et al, 2003;Freitas-de-Melo et al, 2015a), breed (Lawrence and Dwyer, 1999;Pickup and Dwyer, 2011), litter size (Dwyer and Lawrence, 1998;Hernandez et al, 2009), as well as some intrinsic factors of the lamb, like sex (Hernandez et al, 2009;Freitas-de-Melo et al, 2015a;Gaudin et al, 2015), and body temperature (Menant et al, 2020). Understanding the physiological and behavioural consequences of these conditions, how they synergise with each other, and how they can be changed with management is essential to increase lambs' survival probability.…”

Section: Ewe-lamb Bond At Birth and During Lactationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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).…”

Section: Ewe-lamb Bond At Birth and During Lactationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2022

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Artificial weaning is the separation of the mother and her lamb, involving the forced ending of suckling and milk supply by the ewes to their lambs. Artificial weaning time varies depending on the purpose of each sheep farm and the characteristics of the lambs, including age and weight of the lambs, and their ability to eat solid food. Artificial weaning is performed from 24 h postpartum until around the age of natural weaning (up to 12 mo of age). Artificial weaning results in the breaking of the ewe-lamb bond, the end of suckling and the complete replacement of milk by solid food, frequently added to changes in both the physical and social environment. It triggers behavioural, physiological and immunological changes that generate negative consequences on the health of both ewes and lambs, as well as on the growth of the lambs, rising animal welfare concerns. As artificial weaning is considered one of the most stressful situations in the life of farm mammals, it is important to consider the factors involved in those responses to develop adequate strategies and improve sheep welfare at weaning. The most frequently used method is the abrupt separation of the ewes and their lambs. However, the adaptation of the animals after weaning can be improved by alternative weaning methods (e.g., progressive, two-steps weaning and mixed regimes), hormonal treatments (e.g., administration of progesterone), and pre- and postweaning management (e.g., the use of creeping feeding, and the presence of conspecifics or humans after weaning). This review presents and summarises information on the stress response and animal welfare issues at artificial weaning in sheep and some management practises that can be used to reduce these problems. The major points included are the ewe-lamb bond at birth and during the lactation period; the stress response at weaning; the factors involved in the stress response at weaning; the different types and weaning methods and their repercussions on animal welfare; and some strategies that can be used to improve sheep welfare at weaning. Lastly, we propose directions for research needed to develop practical alternatives to minimise sheep's stress response at weaning.

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Section: Ewe-lamb Bond At Birth and During Lactationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ewe-lamb Bond At Birth and During Lactationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2022

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“…Probably the greater incidence of lamb rejection and mortality rates of lambs born from PRI ewes 14,26 can be explained not only by their less intensive maternal behaviour 20 but also, by a shorter sensitive period after which they would not recognize any lamb 24 . Additionally, the main lambs' behaviour and lambs' BW and body temperature at birth, did not differ between groups, likely due to birth weight and lamb's body temperature, both of which are related to the lambs' behaviour around birth in the same Uruguayan extensive sheep production system 27 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

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

Freitas‐de‐Melo

Pérez-Clariget

Terrazas

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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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.

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“…Maternal heat is transferred through the placenta, resulting in a fetal temperature above the maternal by 0.3 to 0.5 • C. At birth, the newborn loses the maternal regulation and can rapidly reduce its temperature [28,29]. In lambs, a decrease to 1.5 • C lower than that of the intrauterine environment is described [30,31], while in piglets this decrease can reach 2 • C [18,32]. So, it is clear that this phenomenon has a severe productive and physiological impact on the newborn ruminant.…”

Section: Hypothermia In Newborn Ruminantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies and Mechanisms of Thermal Compensation in Newborn Water Buffaloes

Mota-Rojas

Braghieri

Ghezzi

et al. 2023

Animals

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Hypothermia is one of the principal causes of perinatal mortality in water buffaloes and can range from 3% to 17.9%. In ruminants, factors affecting hypothermia in newborns may be of intrinsic (e.g., level of neurodevelopment, birth weight, vitality score, amount of brown fat, skin features) or extrinsic origin (e.g., maternal care, environmental conditions, colostrum consumption). When newborn buffaloes are exposed to cold stress, thermoregulatory mechanisms such as peripheral vasoconstriction and shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis are activated to prevent hypothermia. Due to the properties of infrared thermography (IRT), as a technique that detects vasomotor changes triggered by a reduction in body temperature, evaluating the central and peripheral regions in newborn buffaloes is possible. This review aims to analyze behavioral, physiological, and morphological strategies and colostrum consumption as thermal compensation mechanisms in newborn water buffalo to cope with environmental changes affecting thermoneutrality. In addition, the importance of monitoring by IRT to identify hypothermia states will be highlighted. Going deeper into these topics related to the water buffalo is essential because, in recent years, this species has become more popular and is being bred in more geographic areas.

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Is body surface temperature measured on the single lambs’ back a reliable indicator of the ewe-lamb bond around birth?

Cited by 13 publications

References 31 publications

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

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

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

Strategies and Mechanisms of Thermal Compensation in Newborn Water Buffaloes

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