Postnatal maternal behaviour expression depends on lambing difficulty in Merino ewes

Title
Postnatal maternal behaviour expression depends on lambing difficulty in Merino ewes
Publication Date
2023
Author(s)
Redfearn, Amellia
Janodet, Estelle
McNally, Jody
Brewer, Heather
Doyle, Emma
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5255-2187
Email: edoyle3@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:edoyle3
Doyle, Rebecca
Schmoelzl, Sabine
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Elsevier Inc
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1016/j.theriogenology.2022.11.001
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/59138
Abstract

Dystocia, a prolonged or non-progressive birth event, is the main contributor to lamb mortality in Australia and across the world. Dystocia can cause neonatal hypoxia, central nervous system (CNS) damage leading to increased risk of starvation, exposure and mismothering, and death. These prolonged birth events can also cause fatigue, injury and death in the ewe. Dystocia may interrupt the expression of maternal behaviour and the strength of the ewe-lamb bond, and consequently lamb survival. This study focused on the effect of dystocia on ewe behaviour in the 2 h post-lambing. A total of 18 ewes were chosen for continuous behaviour annotation and analysis (dystocic (n = 9) and eutocic (n = 9)) based on the quality of video recordings, length of stage 2 parturition and classification by a single experienced observer. Dystocic ewes showed significantly lower expression of maternal behaviours and a significantly greater expression of avoidance behaviours compared to eutocic ewes. Additionally, dystocic ewes performed fewer behaviours in total compared to eutocic ewes.

Link
Citation
Theriogenology, v.196, p. 31-36
ISSN
1879-3231
0093-691X
Start page
31
End page
36
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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