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79
Poster 7
Tamsin Coombs presents Poster 7 during the poster sessions in the Aula.
Session theme 1: Development, validation and automated measurements of indicators of animal welfare
THE EFFECTS OF PRENATAL UNDERNUTRITION ON STRESS
REACTIVITY IN LAMBS: USING ACTIVITY AS AN INDICATOR
T.M. Coombs, C. M. Dwyer
Animal Behaviour & Welfare group, Sustainable Livestock Systems, Scottish Agricultural College,
Edinburgh, Scotland
In the UK seasonal differences in food availability may mean that extensively farmed sheep suffer
from nutrient deprivation during early pregnancy. Whilst this in itself is a welfare issue for the ewe
it may also have implications for the welfare of the unborn lamb through prenatal programming of
stress reactivity.
The aim of this experiment was to study the effects of early prenatal undernutrition on lamb stress
reactivity, as indicated by activity during routine handling, in two British breeds of sheep (Suffolk
and Scottish Blackface) with the hypothesis that prenatal undernutrition will result in lambs with
heightened stress reactivity.
Control ewes (n=30) were fed 100% of requirements for maintenance and foetal growth throughout
pregnancy (C) while restricted ewes (n=30) were fed 75% of requirements from days 1 to 90 of
pregnancy and 100% thereafter (R). At 24 hours old lambs were scored for movement whilst held
and at 8 weeks old lambs were weighed and stress reactivity was measured by recording amplitude
of movement in a weighing crate using an accelerometer. At 24 hours, Blackface R lambs struggled
significantly more whilst restrained than Blackface C lambs (χ 2 = 6.892, p