Animal Health & Welfare

The behaviour of the lamb is as important as that of the ewe to ensure its own survival, although the lamb is often overlooked. The lamb must be able to stand up quickly after birth, be able to locate the udder and to suck successfully to be able to survive.

The ewe can help facilitate these behaviours - by licking the lamb to warm and dry it, and stimulate its movements, and by orienting her body so that the lamb can find the udder more easily. But it is still necessary for the lamb to be able to perform these behaviours for it to survive. In addition it must have the developmental maturity to be able to maintain its own body temperature.

Early lamb sucking is important to allow the ingestion of colostrum as quickly as possible after birth. Colostrum performs several important tasks:

1. It provides the lamb with fuel to maintain body temperature (particularly important for lambs born into cold, wet areas where its body reserves will be rapidly used up).

2. It provides the lamb with passive immunity in the form of immunoglobulins that pass into the blood stream from the gut, thereby protecting it from early diseases.

3. It speeds up the process of 'gut closure' which means that the time when large bacteria can also enter the lamb's blood stream is reduced, helping to prevent disease.

4. Early sucking plays a role in developing a good bond between the lamb and its mother by helping the lamb to learn to recognise its mother.

At birth the lamb is attracted to any large moving object - early sucking helps it to transfer that attraction to the ewe. If the ewe and lamb become separated the lamb will approach, follow and attempt to suck from any moving object, especially other ewes.

Early sucking is known to be related to lamb survival, and to good lamb growth to weaning. So promoting this behaviour will lead to better animal welfare and better productivity.

What affects lamb behaviour?

As with ewe behaviour, the behaviour of the lamb is affected by things happening during pregnancy and development, by things that are intrinsic to the lamb, and by events occurring around birth. The tabs to the left describe what factors affect lamb behaviour.

What is good lamb behaviour?

The average time for lambs to perform the important behaviours of standing and sucking after birth are:

Standing:

Hill breeds = 10-15 minutes, Lowland breeds = 25 minutes

Reaching udder and trying to suck:

Hill breeds = 30 minutes, Lowland breeds = 45 minutes

Sucking successfully:

Hill breeds = 50 minutes, Lowland breeds = 100 minutes.

In addition the lamb should be able to maintain body temperature at or above 39 degrees centigrade, keep up with and follow its mother within two hours of birth, and recognise its mother at a distance by 12-24 hours old.

Management actions to promote better lamb behaviour

A better understanding of what is required of the lamb, and why the lamb does what it does after birth will help to develop management actions that work with the lamb's behaviour and help to promote good responses and bonding to the ewe.

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

• As a high stress environment can prolong labour, with detrimental consequences for ewe and lamb behaviour and lamb survival, aim to produce a low stress lambing environment.

• As low maternal body condition can have an important impact on lamb behaviour after birth, and an important impact on lamb survival, aim to manage ewes to prevent large losses of condition during pregnancy.

• Lamb birth weight is an important factor in lamb behaviour - lambs that are too heavy will suffer greater levels of dystocia, and lambs that are too light will be weak and struggle to maintain birth weight. Sire selection and ewe management for optimal rather than maximal birthweight will help promote good lamb vigour at birth.

• Maternal behaviour that prevents the lamb from accessing the udder and sucking can affect the rates of mismothering and lamb abandonment. Aim to provide an environment that promotes good maternal care, particularly for inexperienced ewes, as outlined above.

• Consider recording and selecting rams on the basis of the behaviour of their offspring. Lambs should perform at least as well as, or better than, the average figures given above.