The effect of different pen partition configurations on the behaviour of sheep

Abstract

The aim of our experiment was to test if different configurations of additional walls would increase total resting time and synchrony of resting behaviour while decreasing displacements from the resting area in small groups of sheep. A total of 24 adult pregnant ewes of the Nor-X breed were rotated between five treatment pens and one control pen (each with 4 ewes) in a Latin Square design. In five treatment pens solid walls were mounted on the resting area in different configurations (parallel wall: PAR; cross wall: CRO; perpendicular wall: PER; resting cubicles: CUB; three walls: THR), while one pen was kept without additional walls (control: CON). The ewes were acclimatized to each treatment pen for 6 days before 24 h video recordings were performed. Social interactions were scored continuously for 6 h during daytime while resting behaviour was scored using instantaneous sampling every 10 min during the entire 24 h. No significant differences were found between treatments in total resting time, resting synchrony or displacement behaviour. However, when housed in the CUB configuration the ewes performed more blocking behaviour ( P < 0.0001), consequently resulting in more ewes resting in the activity area ( P < 0.05). More head butting was observed in the THR treatment than in the CRO treatment ( P < 0.05). In conclusion, additional walls did not increase the resting time, reduce aggressive social interactions or increase the synchrony of resting behaviour in ewes. It is probably more important for sheep to have enough resting space to lie simultaneously and the ability to keep within visual contact with group mates.