Ewe maternal behavior score to estimate lamb survival and performance during lactation

ABSTRACT Mortality of perinatal lambs and low weight at weaning cause huge liabilities to farmers. Current study describes maternal-filial behavior and evaluates the use of maternal behavior score (MBS) to estimate the behavior of ewes and lambs soon after birth, and correlate it with lamb mortality and performance during lactation. Thirty-seven Corriedale ewes were used in a completely randomized design. MBS was assessed up to 24 hours after birth, taking into consideration the distance of the ewe from the lamb at the approach of a person. Maternal behavior, placental weight, weight gain of the lambs until weaning and their survival rate were also evaluated until two hours after lambing. More than 90% of the ewes had adequate maternal behavior, with parental care, even though ewes were very sensitive to the presence of people. There was no significant correlation between MBS and maternal behavior, lamb mortality rate and live weight gain. Under these conditions, MBS was not a useful tool to estimate maternal behavior and performance of lambs.

Détails bibliographiques

Auteurs principaux:	Moraes,Andréia Barros de, Poli,Cesar Henrique Espírito Candal, Fischer,Vivian, Fajardo,Neuza Maria, Aita,Marta Farias, Porciuncula,Gabriela Caillava da
Format:	Digital revista
Langue:	English
Publié:	Editora da Universidade Estadual de Maringá - EDUEM 2016
Accès en ligne:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1807-86722016000300327
Tags:	Ajouter un tag Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!