Behavioural relationships between Merino ewes and lambs during the four weeks after birth

Abstract

SUMMARYThe attachment between the ewe and her lamb, as assessed by estimating the distance between ewe and lamb and observing their behaviour, was studied for the 4 weeks after birth. The ewe and lamb kept in close contact throughout this period. They were within 10 metres of each other in 56% of all observations; only in 6% of all observations were they more than 50 metres from each other. With increasing age of lamb, the ewe spent more time grazing while the lamb also spent more time grazing and playing and less time sucking. The lambs showed independent forms of behaviour such as the formation of groups as they got older. The distinct dependent behaviour traits were that if bothewe and lamb were lying or walking, then they were usually close together.The mean distance between ewes and lambs remained constant for dependent forms of behaviour but gradually increased with age for independent forms of behaviour.