Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be
Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be
Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be
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Travis Murray presents Poster 31 during the poster sessions in the Aula.<br />
Session theme 3: Improving animal welfare by adapting animals to their environment<br />
103<br />
Poster 31<br />
SELECTION FOR CALM TEMPERAMENT IMPROVES THE MILKING<br />
BEHAVIOUR OF EWES<br />
T. Murray 1 , R. Bencini 1 & D. Blache 1<br />
1 School <strong>of</strong> Animal Biology, Faculty <strong>of</strong> Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University <strong>of</strong> Western<br />
Australia, Perth, Australia<br />
The selection <strong>of</strong> dairy sheep on temperament can increase production, reduce stress and improve<br />
welfare. Milking is a highly stressful procedure for both animal and handler, particularly when the<br />
ewes are inexperienced and not yet familiar with the routine. Although sheep are reluctant to <strong>be</strong><br />
milked, they gradually habituate to this procedure. However, some do not submit and have to <strong>be</strong><br />
removed from the flock as they are likely to cause injury to themselves, their flockmates or their<br />
handlers. We investigated whether ewes selected for calm (C) temperament would habituate quicker<br />
to the milking procedure and <strong>be</strong> easier to manage than nervous (N) ewes.<br />
Thirty-four Merino ewes genetically selected for calm (22) or nervous (12) temperament on their<br />
response to two social challenges, were introduced to the milking procedure two weeks after<br />
lambing, Their <strong>be</strong>haviour during machine milking in a commercial dairy parlour was then recorded<br />
on fourteen occasions over three weeks.<br />
There was no overall difference <strong>be</strong>tween calm and nervous ewes in their reluctance to enter the<br />
milking parlour (C= 1.66±0.06, N= 1.81±0.12; p>0.05, arbitrary score, log linear model [LLM]),<br />
although calm sheep tended to <strong>be</strong> much easier to load onto the platform during the initial milkings.<br />
Furthermore, over the whole period <strong>of</strong> study, calm ewes required significantly less intervention by<br />
their handlers during milking and it took less time to attach the milking cups (C= 5.94±0.23sec,<br />
N=6.80±0.24sec; p0.05 GLMM), but nervous ewes<br />
were more difficult to remove from the platform (C= 1.24±0.10, N=1.51±0.24; p
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