Animal Health & Welfare

Maternal behaviour in sheep is made up of two components: general care-giving behaviour (e.g. allowing the lamb to suck, being attentive to the lamb, showing concern when the lamb is not present) and ‘selectivity’ (forming an attachment only to her own lambs and restricting her maternal care to those lambs).

Ewes show both aspects of maternal behaviour to their lambs as a result of hormonal changes occurring in later pregnancy and during birth. Ewes are initially attracted to a birth site, usually where the birth fluids have been spilt, and this attraction is transferred to the lamb after birth. For a short period of 30-60 minutes the ewe will then be receptive to forming a bond with a particular lamb(s), thereafter she will only show maternal care to those lambs. If the ewe and lamb become separated during this period the ewe may fail to bond successfully to her own lamb leading to mismothering and lamb death.

The ewe-lamb bond is formed initially through smell so the high levels of maternal licking shown at birth are important for the bond to be made. It seems that the higher the level of licking the stronger the bond formed by the ewe to the lamb. Within a few hours of birth the ewe is also able to recognise her lamb by sight and by the sound of its bleats.

What affects maternal behaviour?

The tabs to the left describe how ewe behaviour can be affected resulting in increased lamb mortality.

Management action to promote better maternal behaviour

• A good understanding of the biology behind maternal behaviour, and why the ewe does what she does, will help in making husbandry and management decisions that promote these behaviours rather than work against them.

• As a difficult delivery can affect ewe and lamb behaviour, as well as well as incur economic costs from the time taken to deal with dystocia, consider implementing changes to reduce the incidence of birth problems.

• Allow inexperienced ewes plenty of time to deliver their lambs, and keep them in a low stress environment to ensure they have the best chance of bonding with their lambs.

• Lamb inexperienced ewes separately from more experienced ewes to prevent interference and lamb stealing by the experienced ewes.

• Ewes should spend as long as possible on the birth site, particularly inexperienced ewes or those with multiple births, so avoid management actions that will cause ewes to leave the birth site early, and do not be too quick to move ewes off the birth site and into individual pens, unless there are clear reasons why this might be necessary.

• Avoid excessive interference at lambing time, particularly with ewes that are not used to being handled. Stress at lambing will affect birth difficulty and may actually increase lamb mortality. The policy of maximum observation and minimum interference should be implemented.

• Avoid excessive changes in ewe body condition during gestation. Ewes should maintain or lose only a small amount of condition during pregnancy to have the optimum chance of expressing good maternal behaviour, and for good lamb vigour and growth after birth.

• Consider recording and breeding for good maternal care - particularly those ewes that are capable of raising twins successfully.