Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:45:57.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Low pasture allowance until late gestation in ewes: behavioural and physiological changes in ewes and lambs from lambing to weaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2016

A. Freitas-de-Melo ,
R. Ungerfeld ,
M. J. Hötzel ,
A. Orihuela  and
R. Pérez-Clariget
A. Freitas-de-Melo*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Molecular y Celular, Universidad de la República, Lasplaces 1620, Montevideo 11600, Uruguay
R. Ungerfeld
Affiliation:
Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Veterinaria, Lasplaces 1620, Montevideo 11600, Uruguay
M. J. Hötzel
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada e Bem-Estar Animal, Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Rodovia Admar Gonzaga, 1346 Florianópolis, SC 88.034-001, Brazil
A. Orihuela
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Colonia Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, México
R. Pérez-Clariget
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal y Pasturas, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Garzón 780, CP 12 400, Montevideo, Uruguay
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Low pasture allowance during gestation affects ewes’ BW at parturition, the bond with their lamb, lamb development, and thus also may affect their responses to weaning. The objectives were to determine if native pasture allowance from before conception until late pregnancy affects ewe–lamb behaviours at lambing, ewes’ milk yield, lambs’ BW, and the behavioural and physiological changes of ewes and lambs at weaning. From 23 days before conception until 122 days of pregnancy, 24 ewes grazed on two different native pasture allowances: high (10 to 12 kg of dry matter (DM)/100 kg of BW per day; HPA treatment; n=12) or low (5 to 8 kg of DM/100 kg of BW per day; LPA treatment; n=12). Thereafter, all ewes grazed on Festuca arundinacea and received rice bran and crude glycerine. Ewes’ body condition score (BCS) and BW were recorded during pregnancy and postpartum periods. Milk yield was determined on days 32, 41 and 54 after lambing. Lambs’ BW was recorded from birth until 72 days after lambing. Latency from parturition until the ewe licked her lamb, maternal behaviour score (a test that evaluates maternal attachment to the lamb) and latency for lamb to stand up and suckle were determined. The behaviour of the lambs and ewes was recorded before and after weaning (at 65 days). The ewes’ serum total protein, albumin and globulin concentrations were measured before and after weaning. The HPA ewes presented greater BW (P<0.005) and BCS (P<0.005) than the LPA ewes during pregnancy and postpartum (P<0.04), and had a greater milk yield than the LPA ewes (P<0.03). Treatments did not influence any behaviour at lambing, lambs’ BW, neither the ewes’ behavioural and physiological changes at weaning. HPA lambs paced and vocalized more than LPA lambs (P<0.0001). The variation of albumin concentration before and after weaning was greater in the HPA lambs than in the LPA lambs (P<0.0001). In conclusion, although ewes’ BW, BCS and milk production were affected by pasture allowance until late pregnancy, this did not affect the behaviours that lead to the establishment of the mother–young bond, nor the ewes’ behavioural responses at weaning. Lambs reared by ewes that grazed on low pasture allowance during pregnancy presented fewer behavioural changes and a lower decrease of albumin concentration after weaning. Lambs’ BW was not affected by the feeding received by their mothers.

Keywords

milk yieldpacingsheepstressundernutrition
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , February 2017 , pp. 285 - 294
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, RR 1975. Mammary gland growth in sheep. Journal of Animal Science 41, 118–123.Google Scholar
Arnold, GW, Wallace, SR and Maller, RA 1979. Some factors involved in natural weaning processes in sheep. Applied Animal Ethology 5, 43–50.Google Scholar
Ayala, W and Bermúdez, R 2005. Estrategias de manejo en campos naturales sobre suelos de lomadas en la Región Este. INIA, Serie Técnica 151, 41–50.Google Scholar
Damián, JP, Hötzel, MJ, Banchero, G and Ungerfeld, R 2013. Behavioural response of grazing lambs to changes associated with feeding and separation from their mothers at weaning. Research in Veterinary Science 95, 913–918.Google Scholar
Doney, JM, Peart, JN, Smith, WF and Louda, F 1979. A consideration of the technique for estimation of milk yield by suckled sheep and a comparison of estimates obtained by two methods in relation to the effect of breed, level of production and stage of lactation. Journal of Agricultural Sciences 92, 123–132.Google Scholar
Dwyer, CM, Lawrence, AB, Bishop, SC and Lewis, M 2003. Ewe-lamb bonding behaviours at birth are affected by maternal undernutrition in pregnancy. British Journal of Nutrition 89, 123–136.Google Scholar
Freitas-de-Melo, A, Banchero, G, Hötzel, MJ, Damián, JP and Ungerfeld, R 2013. Progesterone administration reduces the behavioural and physiological responses of ewes to abrupt weaning of lambs. Animal 7, 1367–1373.Google Scholar
Freitas-de-Melo, A, Ungerfeld, R, Hötzel, MJ, Abud, MJ, Alvarez-Oxiley, A, Orihuela, A, Damián, JP and Pérez-Clariget, R 2015. Mother–young behaviours at lambing in grazing ewes: effects of lamb sex and food restriction in pregnancy. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 168, 31–36.Google Scholar
Kenyon, PR 2008. A review of in-utero environmental effects on sheep production. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 68, 142–155.Google Scholar
Kenyon, PR and Webby, RW 2007. Pastures and supplements in sheep production systems. In Pasture and supplements for grazing animals (ed. PV Rattray, IM Brookes and AM Nicol), pp. 255–274. New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Hamilton, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Lehner, PN 1996. Handbook of ethological methods, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Louca, A, Mavrogen, A and Lawlor, MJ 1974. Effects of plane of nutrition in late pregnancy on lamb birth-weight and milk-yield in early lactation of Chios and Awassi sheep. Animal Production 19, 341–349.Google Scholar
Lupoli, B, Johansson, B, Uvnas-Moberg, K and Svennersten-Sjaunja, K 2001. Effect of suckling on the release of oxytocin, prolactin, cortisol, gastrin, cholecystokinin, somatostatin and insulin in dairy cows and their calves. Journal of Dairy Research 68, 175–187.Google Scholar
Lynch, JJ, Hinch, GN and Adams, DB 1992. The behaviour of sheep: biological principles and implications for production, 1st edition. CSIRO, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.Google Scholar
Martin, GB, Milton, JT, Davidson, RH, Banchero Hunzicker, GE, Lindsay, DR and Blache, D 2004. Natural methods for increasing reproductive efficiency in small ruminants. Animal Reproduction Science 82/83, 231–246.Google Scholar
Napolitano, F, Rosa, D and Sevi, A 2008. Welfare implications of artificial rearing and early weaning in sheep. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 110, 58–72.Google Scholar
Nelson, EE, Alberts, JR, Tian, Y and Verbalis, JG 1998. Oxytocin is elevated in plasma of 10-day-old rats following gastric distension. Brain Research. Developmental Brain Research 111, 301–303.Google Scholar
Nelson, EE and Panksepp, J 1998. Brain substrates of infant–mother attachment: contributions of opioids, oxytocin, and norepinephrine. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 22, 437–452.Google Scholar
Nowak, R and Boivin, X 2015. Filial attachment in sheep: similarities and differences between ewe-lamb and human-lamb relationships. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 164, 12–28.Google Scholar
Nowak, R, Lévy, F, Cornilleau, F, Williams, PD, Marnet, PG and Keller, M 2011. Suckling, oxytocin and the development of attachment behaviour in infants. Proceedings of the 43rd European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting, 9–12 September 2011, Seville, Spain, 42pp.Google Scholar
O’Connor, CE, Jay, NP, Nicol, AM and Beatson, PR 1985. Ewe maternal behaviour score and lamb survival. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 45, 159–162.Google Scholar
Orgeur, P, Mavric, N, Yvore, P, Bernard, S, Nowak, R, Schaal, B and Levy, F 1998. Artificial weaning in sheep: consequences on behavioural, hormonal and immuno-pathological indicators of welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 58, 87–103.Google Scholar
Pascual-Alonso, M, Miranda-de la Lama, GC, Aguayo-Ulloa, L, Ezquerro, L, Villarroel, M, Marín, RH and Maria, GA 2015. Effect of postweaning handling strategies on welfare and productive traits in lambs. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 18, 42–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pérez-León, I, Orihuela, A, Lidfors, L and Aguirre, V 2006. Reducing mother young separation distress by inducing ewes into oestrous into day of weaning. Animal Welfare 15, 383–389.Google Scholar
Pickup, H and Dwyer, M 2011. Breed differences in the expression of maternal care at parturition persist throughout the lactation period in sheep. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 132, 33–41.Google Scholar
Poindron, P, Levy, F and Keller, M 2007. Maternal responsiveness and maternal selectivity in domestic sheep and goats: the two facets of maternal attachment. Developmental Psychobiology 49, 54–70.Google Scholar
Rattray, V, Thompson, KF and Hawker, H 2007. Pastures for sheep production. In Livestock feeding on pasture (ed. AM Nicol), pp. 89–104. New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Hamilton, NZ, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Rhind, SM, Reid, HW, McMillen, SR and Palmarini, G 1998. The role of cortisol and β-endorphin in the response of the immune system to weaning in lambs. Animal Science 66, 397–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, AJF, Doney, JM and Gunn, RG 1969. Subjective assessment of body fat in live sheep. The Journal of Agricultural Science 72, 451–454.Google Scholar
Säkkinen, H, Tverdal, A, Eloranta, E, Dahl, E, Holand, Ø, Saarela, S and Ropstad, E 2005. Variation of plasma protein parameters in four free-ranging reindeer herds and in captive reindeer under defined feeding conditions. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. Part A, Molecular & Integrative Physiology 142, 503–511.Google Scholar
Thomson, AM and Thomson, W 1949. Lambing in relation to the diet of the pregnant ewe. British Journal of Nutrition 2, 290–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treacher, TT 1970. Effects of nutrition in late pregnancy on subsequent milk production in ewes. Animal Production 12, 23–36.Google Scholar
Ungerfeld, R, Quintans, DG, Enríquez, DH and Hötzel, MJ 2009. Behavioural changes at weaning in 6-month-old beef calves reared by cows of high or low milk yield. Animal Production Science 49, 637–642.Google Scholar
Weary, DM, Jasper, J and Hötzel, MJ 2008. Understanding weaning distress. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 110, 24–41.Google Scholar