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Assessment of meat-type sheep welfare using animal-based measures
Contributor(s):: M'Hamdi, N., Darej, C., Attia, K., Guesmi, H., Znaidi, I. E. A., Bouraoui, R., M'Hamdi, H., Marzouki, L., Ayadi, M.
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Mother-young behaviours at lambing in grazing ewes: effects of lamb sex and food restriction in pregnancy
Contributor(s):: Freitas-De-Melo, A., Ungerfeld, R., Hotzel, M. J., Abud, M. J., Alvarez-Oxiley, A., Orihuela, A., Damian, J. P., Perez-Clariget, R.
This study investigated whether the level of pasture allowance from before conception until late pregnancy affects ewe-lamb behaviours at birth, and if those behaviours differ according to the sex of the lambs. We performed two experiments, in which 96 ewes were assigned to one of two nutritional...
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Stress assessment in small ruminants kept on city farms in Southern Germany
Contributor(s):: Schilling, A. K., Reese, S., Palme, R., Erhard, M., Wohr, A. C.
Sheep and goats are frequently used in nonhuman animal-assisted activities on city farms. There are few data available on this type of usage of small ruminants. Health evaluations, behavioral observations (feeding, resting, comfort, explorative and social behaviors), behavioral tests (human...
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Impact of rapid treatment of sheep lame with footrot on welfare and economics and farmer attitudes to lameness in sheep
Contributor(s):: Green, L. E., Kaler, J., Wassink, G. J., King, E. M., Thomas, R. G.
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Reducing mother-young separation distress by inducing ewes into oestrus at the day of weaning
Contributor(s):: Perez-Leon, I., Orihuela, A., Lidfors, L., Aguirre, V.
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Social transmission of physiological and behavioural responses to castration in suckling Merino lambs
| Contributor(s):: Colditz, I. G., Paull, D. R., Lee, C.
In social species like sheep, social context can modify both physiological and behavioural responses to stressors and normal behavioural patterns. Presence of conspecifics can ameliorate responses to noxious stimuli, an effect termed social buffering, whereas the presence of a distressed...
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Temporal association between food distribution and human caregiver presence and the development of affinity to humans in lambs
| Contributor(s):: Tallet, C., Veissier, I., Boivin, X.
The presence of the caregiver around feeding favors the development of a human-animal relationship. To understand the underlying mechanism, we tested various temporal associations between food distribution and human presence: from an early age, a person was repeatedly present for 2 min just...
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An automatic system to record foraging behaviour in free-ranging ruminants
| Contributor(s):: Rutter, S. M., Champion, R. A., Penning, P. D.
Precise measurements of grazing behaviour are required to develop an understanding of the factors affecting the foraging behaviour of free-ranging domestic ruminants. An automatic, microcomputer-based system for the digital recording of the jaw movements of free-ranging cattle and sheep is...
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Behaviour of growing lambs housed on straw or woodchip bedding materials and their preference for floor type
| Contributor(s):: Wolf, B. T., Molloy, H. R. B., Trayte, M. J., Rose, M. T.
Straw is widely used as a bedding material for housed sheep, but alternatives are needed in regions where straw is expensive or in short supply. The aim of this work was to compare time budgets, growth and food intake of growing, finishing lambs housed on either woodchip or straw bedding...
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Comparison of the behaviour of Awassi lambs in cafeteria feeding system with single diet feeding system
| Contributor(s):: Keskin, M., Sahin, A., Bicer, O., Gul, S.
This study was carried out to compare behavioural activities of Awassi lambs in cafeteria feeding system with conventional feeding (control) that animals fed concentrate. Sixteen, 3-month-old male lambs were housed individually for 42 days. The main effect was on the feeding systems, cafeteria...
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Diet preference for grass and legumes in free-ranging domestic sheep and cattle: current theory and future application
| Contributor(s):: Rutter, S. M.
This paper reviews the current theory and potential practical applications of research on the diet preference for grass and legumes in grazing domestic sheep and cattle. Although much of this work has focussed on grass and clover as a model system, it has wider theoretical implications and...
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Discriminating among novel foods: effects of energy provision on preferences of lambs for poor-quality foods
| Contributor(s):: Villalba, J. J., Provenza, F. D.
A study was conducted to better understand how lambs discriminate among novel foods based on flavour and post-ingestive effects. The manner in which temporal sequence of food ingestion and post-ingestive feedback affected preference when lambs were fed flavoured wheat straw (a poorly nutritious...
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Diurnal patterns of intake rate by sheep grazing monocultures of ryegrass or white clover
| Contributor(s):: Orr, R. J., Penning, P. D., Harvey, A., Champion, R. A.
The effects of time of day on the ingestive behaviour of groups of 5 sheep grazing monocultures of ryegrass (Lolium perenne cv. Parcour) or white clover (Trifolium repens cv. Kent Wild White), were measured over periods of 1 h starting at 07.30, 11.30, 15.30 and 19.30 h in August 1993. Grazing...
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Ear and tail postures as indicators of emotional valence in sheep
| Contributor(s):: Reefmann, N., Kaszas, F. B., Wechsler, B., Gygax, L.
To date, most studies on animal emotions have focused on the assessment of negative emotional states, and there is a lack of approaches to characterising positive emotional states. The aim of this investigation was to measure differences in ear and tail postures in sheep exposed to situations...
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Effect of gradual transition from maternal to reconstituted milk on behavioural, endocrine and immune responses of lambs
| Contributor(s):: Sevi, A., Napolitano, F., Casamassima, D., Annicchiarico, G., Quarantelli, T., Paola, R. de
18-24 h after parturition, 20 Comisana lambs were separated from their dams and were subsequently offered a commercial milk substitute (Sub) or were subjected to a gradual transition from maternal to reconstituted milk over 10 days (Mix). Lambs had free access to milk for 3 h a day. A further 10...
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Effects of food structure and nutritional quality and animal nutritional state on intake behaviour and food preferences of sheep
| Contributor(s):: Villalba, J. J., Provenza, F. D.
There is evidence of the independent effects of plant physical and chemical characteristics on foraging, but little has been done to determine how these traits interact to affect food selection. The effect of the nutritional state of lambs on intake behaviour and preference for feeds with...
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Effects of social behaviour on the spatial distribution of sheep grazing a complex vegetation mosaic
| Contributor(s):: Sibbald, A. M., Oom, S. P., Hooper, R. J., Anderson, R. M.
In complex environments, the spatial distribution of preferred food types will be a major factor influencing the distribution of foraging animals. However, in highly social animals, such as sheep, social interactions may modify foraging behaviour and hence influence both where animals feed and...
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Effects of space allowance on the grazing behaviour and spacing of sheep
| Contributor(s):: Sibbald, A. M., Shellard, L. J. F., Smart, T. S.
In each of two experiments, four groups of 10 female Scottish Blackface sheep grazed for 2 weeks at each of four space allowances, according to a Greco-Latin Square design. Space allowances were 80, 100, 133 or 200 m2 per head in experiment 1 and 50, 67, 100 or 200 m2 per head in experiment 2....
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Feeding behaviour of sheep on shrubs in response to contrasting herbaceous cover in rangelands dominated by Cytisus scoparius L
| Contributor(s):: Pontes, L. da S., Agreil, C., Magda, D., Gleizes, B., Fritz, H.
The foraging responses of ewes faced with a diversity of feed items and their effects on broom (Cytisus scoparius L.) consumption were examined. The experiment was conducted on a farm in the autumn with ewes (n=33) grazing three small paddocks (0.44 ha on average, for at least 10 days each)...
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Feeding, resting and social behaviour in ewes housed in two different group sizes
| Contributor(s):: Jorgensen, G. H. M., Andersen, I. L., Berg, S., Boe, K. E.
The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of increased group size on eating- and resting behaviour, aggression and feed intake in housed ewes. During an initial period of 14 days 36 adult (2-6 years old) ewes of the domestic Norwegian Dala breed were divided into four groups of 9....
