Chez les ruminants d'elevage, l'allaitement artificiel est frequent et place l'homme en situation de substitut maternel, notamment par l'apprentissage au distributeur de lait reconstitue. La presente etude s'interesse a la variabilite phenotypique, notamment en terme de vigueur, reactiv­ite et affinite pour l'humain et sa relation avec la croissance. 567 agneaux de race Romane ont ete eleves artificiellement dans des conditions standardisees (bâtiment, animaliers, et alimenta­tion identiques) a partir de 24h d'âge jusqu'au sevrage (poids vif entre 12 et 13 kg). Les agneaux ont ete precocement phenotypes par leur poids de naissance et plusieurs indicateurs mesures a l'arrivee en nurserie; temperature, vigueur, acceptation du premier biberon de lait. 202 agneaux, choisis aleatoirement, ont egalement ete caracterises par leur reactivite a l'isolement en environ­nement nouveau et a un humain inconnu a 21 jours d'âge. La reponse a l'isolement et la reponse a l'homme ont ete obtenues en agregeant par ACP les comportements observes dans chaque situation. Aucune correlation n'a ete observee entre les deux reponses (rs=0.04). Les variations individuelles de Gain Moyen Quotidien de poids (GMQ) jusqu'au sevrage ont ete analysees par regression multiple avec selection stepwise afin d'identifler les facteurs les plus importants im­pliques. Parmi les caracteristiques precoces des agneaux, avoir un plus faible poids de naissance (P< 0.001), etre une femelle (P< 0.01), avoir un plus faible indice de vigueur (P< 0.001) et un comportement de succion du biberon peu marque (P=0.01) etaient associes a un plus faible GMQ. Une plus forte attraction pour l'homme (P< 0.001) et une moindre reactivite en isolement (P< 0.05) sont egalement associees a de plus faibles GMQ. Cette etude observationnelle confirme, non seulement l'importance des caracteristiques individuelles precoces mais suggere aussi que la reactivite comportementale et le lien de dependance a l'hornme pourraient etre predicteurs de l'adaptation (ici la croissance) des animaux en allaitement artificiel.

In sheep, the bond between the dam and her lambs is established during the first hours of a lamb's life. Genetic variability for behavioural reactivity of ewes assessed in an arena test performed 24 hr after lambing has already been reported. However, there is no evidence that this reactivity represents the ewe's maternal reactivity at lambing in outdoor conditions. The objective of this study was to investigate whether or not the behavioural reactivity of ewes in the arena test is genetically related to their maternal reactivity measured at lambing. A total of 935 Romane ewes were studied. The maternal reactivity of ewes at the outdoor lambing site was recorded in response to a human approach and to the handling of the lambs. Their behavioural reactivity was also recorded 24 hr post-lambing in the arena test that involved a separation from the litter and a human presence. Flight distance, aggressive reaction, time to restore contact with the litter, maternal behaviour scores and vocalizations recorded at the lambing site were heritable (0.12-0.34). All of these behaviours were genetically correlated with the behavioural reactivity in the arena test. The highest genetic correlations (from 0.60 to 0.90) were found amongst maternal behavioural scores, flight distance and high-pitched bleats. In conclusion, behavioural reactivity in the arena test can be used to assess early maternal reactivity in standardized conditions. Phenotyping of ewes' behavioural reactivity with a simplified arena test can be performed for genetic improvement in maternal behaviour in sheep.

In livestock, improving maternal reactivity towards the litter is an important issue in breeding strategies to promote production and animal welfare. As of yet, no studies have investigated the within-breed genetic variation of maternal reactivity in sheep. The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters of maternal reactivity traits. A total of 1,095 primiparous and 1,441 multiparous Romane ewes were phenotyped 24 hr postlambing using a behavioural test (arena test, AT) over a 10-year experimental period. The test consisted of three successive phases evaluating the ewe's attraction to her litter, reactivity to separation from her litter, and reactivity to a conflict between attraction to her litter and avoidance of a motionless human. The ewes were reared exclusively on rangelands (South of France) and lambed outdoors in the spring. High-pitched bleating and low-pitched bleating in the AT were mostly highly heritable (0.39-0.46). Heritabilities were moderate for proximity to the litter in the presence of a human (0.27) and low for locomotion and vigilance in the AT (0.09-0.15). The measurements of a given behaviour in the three phases of the AT were highly genetically correlated. Few genetic correlations were found between the different behavioural traits in the AT, the highest correlations being between high-pitched bleating and low-pitched bleating (-0.43 to -0.77). In conclusion, our findings demonstrate moderate-to-high heritability for maternal reactivity traits. These traits could be included in genetic selection schemes to enhance maternal attachment provided there is no unfavourable link with other production traits.

L’objectif était de suivre la douleur induite par la castration chez des ovins et d’évaluer l'efficacité de différentes stratégies analgésiques. Vingt-quatre moutons Texel mâles âgés de 12 mois ont été castrés par pince burdizzo sans anesthésie (Cast), après une anesthésie locale (Cast + AL) ou après une anesthésie locale associée des AINS (Cast +AL +AINS). Les réponses comportementales et physiologiques des moutons ont été enregistrées durant quatre périodes : P0 (-24h à -1 h), P1 (0 à +2 h), P2 (+3 h à +32 h) et P3 (+36 h à +78 h). Les périodes en fonction des traitements ont pu être parfaitement différenciées grâce aux 23 indicateurs de l’approche multiparamétrique. Les lots Cast en P0, Cast + AL en P0 et Cast + AL + AINS en P0, P1 et P2 ont présenté les valeurs les plus faibles pour tous les indicateurs, reflétant probablement l'absence de douleur et d’inconfort. Les moutons des lots Cast en P1 et P2, et Cast + AL en P2 ont montré des signes cliniques et une attention réduite, un rapport LF/HF élevé et des taux de cortisol élevés, reflétant une douleur aiguë. Les lots Cast et Cast + AL en P3 ont une température élevée et des concentrations en haptoglobine, glucose et SAA élevées. Ainsi, les signes comportementaux de douleur ont été présents pendant les 32 premières heures suivant la castration ; l'anesthésie locale a été efficace, mais seulement pendant son temps d'action (2 h) ; l'analgésie multimodale (AL+AINS) a été efficace jusqu'à 3 jours après la castration. Ces résultats, notamment ceux liés au comportement des moutons, peuvent aider les vétérinaires et les éleveurs à mieux détecter la douleur et ainsi, à mieux prendre en charge le soulagement de la douleur.

Welfare concerns not only the absence of negative emotional experiences but also the presence of positive experiences. However, scientific investigation on positive emotions in farm animals has been long neglected. This study aimed to investigate the perception of sheep to positive stimuli and whether emotional reactivity influences such perception, through behavioural and cardiac indicators. Therefore, 38 Romane ewes belonging to two divergent lines, high (R+) or low (R-) reactive, were submitted to the presence of a familiar experimenter (HUM) or brushing by a familiar experimenter (BRU). The procedure was divided in three phases: before (2.5 min), during (3.0 min) and after (2.5 min) HUM or BRU. Body postures, head orientation, ear changes and postures, closed and half-closed eyes, tail wagging and feeding behaviour were analyzed, and heart rate variability parameters (RMSSD, RMSSD/SDNN and LF/HF ratios) were estimated. Data were analyzed using linear models with different correlation structures. The models considered treatment, genetic line and phase as fixed effects, including their interactions. Brushed ewes showed fewer body posture, head orientation and ear posture changes and a higher proportion of closed and half-closed eyes, tail wagging and rumination during the procedure, when compared to ewes submitted to the human presence (P < 0.05). Both BRU and HUM ewes had lower HR during and after the procedures and higher RMSSD/SDNN rate during the procedures, reflecting the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system in response to both treatments (P < 0.05). Behavioural and cardiac results suggest that both treatments induced a relaxing state in sheep, more pronounced for the brushing treatment. Interestingly, an anticipatory agitation before the treatment was observed mainly in BRU sheep. Highly reactive ewes expressed less head orientation changes and a higher proportion of horizontal ear postures and feeding behaviour in response to brushing than when submitted to human presence (P < 0.05), indicating that brushing might have elicited a more relaxing effect on R+ animals. Differences between R+ and R- ewes suggest that reactivity might modulate sheep responses to assumed positive stimuli.

Long-term monitoring of animal activity can yield key information for both researchers in ethology and engineers in charge of developing precision livestock farming tools. First, a barn is segmented into delimited areas (e.g. cubicles) with which an activity can be associated (e.g. resting), then a real-time location system (RTLS) can be used to automatically convert cow position into behaviour. Working within the EU-PLF project, we tested a system already able to determine basic activities (resting, moving, eating...) and logged a "big data" set of billions of data points (123 days x 190 cows x 1 location-per-second readings). We then focused on integrating image analysis techniques to help visualise and analyse the dataset, first to validate the data and then to enrich the information extracted. The algorithm developed using freely available tools quickly confirmed the ability of the system to determine cows' main activities (except drinking behaviour), even with 11% of positions missing. The good localisation precision (16 cm) made it possible to enrich the time-budget with new activities such as using brushes and licking mineral blocks. For both activities, using visual observations as gold standard, activity profiles with excellent sensitivity (nearly 80%) were extracted. This validation procedure is both necessary and generalisable to other situations. The improvement of biological information contained in such data holds promise for people designing alarm devices and health and welfare indicators for farmers and/or vets. (C) 2017 lAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background Current trends in sheep farming practices rely on animals with a greater level of behavioral autonomy than before, a phenotype that actively contributes to the sustainability of animal production. Social reactivity and reactivity to humans are relevant behavioral traits in sheep, known for their strong gregariousness and weak tolerance to handling, which have previously been reported with moderate to high heritabilities. To identify loci underlying such behaviors, we performed a genome study in Romane lambs. Results The experiment was carried out on 934 male and female lambs allocated into 9 half-sib families (average of 103 lambs per family) and reared outside. After weaning, all the lambs were individually exposed to 4 standardized behavioral tests combining social isolation, exposure to humans or handling, confinement and novelty (i.e. arena test, corridor test, isolation box test, shearing test). A broad range of behaviors including vocalizations, locomotion, vigilance and flight distance, as well as the cortisol response to handling, were collected. All lambs were genotyped using the Illumina OvineSNP50 BeadChip. QTL detection was performed by linkage, association and joint linkage and association analyses using the QTLmap software. Five main QTL regions were identified on sheep chromosomes ( Ovis Aries Region, OAR) 12, 16, 19, 21 and 23 among many other QTLs with small to moderate effects. The QTLs on OAR12, 16 and 21 showed significant associations with social reactivity. The QTLs on OAR19 and 23 were found to be associated with reactivity to humans. No overlapping QTLs were identified for the different traits measured in the behavioral tests, supporting the hypothesis that different genetic factors influence social reactivity and tolerance to humans. Conclusion The results of this study using ovine SNP data suggest that in domestic sheep the behavioral responses to social separation and exposure to humans are under polygenic influence. The most relevant QTLs reported in the present study contain interesting candidate genes previously described to be associated with various emotional and social behaviors in mammals.

Needs for objective and automatic assessment of animal welfare are increasing in livestock production. The strong dam-offspring relationship is a good model to investigate the vocal expression of emotions in animals since removing the lamb induces behavioural distress in ewes (e.g. agitation and vocalisations). We analysed acoustic characteristics in bleats of ewes following an unpredictable separation from their lambs, in addition to their behavioural and physiological responses. Twenty four ewes of INRA 401 breed were individually exposed to 3 successive 3 min phases: 1) in contact with their lamb placed behind a grid, 2) at 6m away from the lamb and 3) again in contact. Behaviour, vocalisations and cardiac activity (via adhesive external electrodes and a telemetric remote system) were recorded and blood was collected just after the test by venipuncture for cortisol assay. After the lamb was moved away, the ewes were more active and more vigilant, they also bleated more, and their heart rate and cortisol levels dramatically increased. These results confirm that the separation induced behavioural and physiological responses of distress in ewes which reflect negative emotional states. Beside, acoustic analyses show that lamb withdrawal induced changes in the voice characteristics of mothers in correlation with their physiological and behavioural responses. Temporal parameters (e.g. total duration) increased, as did amplitude parameters (e.g. energy, RMS). Concerning the frequency parameters, fundamental frequency increased but frequency Bandwidth, Quartiles (Q25%), (Q50%), (Q75%) decreased. Therefore some bleat characteristics can be used as acoustic markers of emotional distress. Acoustic sensory modality could thus provide an objective basis of negative emotions in sheep, which measure could be easier to automate than other behavioural and physiological correlates of emotional reactions.

Emotions are now largely recognised as a core element in animal welfare issues. However, convenient indicators to reliably infer emotions are still needed. As such, the availability of behavioural postures analogous to facial expressions in humans would be extremely valuable for animal studies of emotions. The purpose of this paper is to find out stable expressive postures in sheep and to relate these expressive postures with specific emotional contexts. In an initial experiment, we identified discrete ear postures from a comprehensive approach which integrates all theoretically distinguishable ear postures. Four main ear postures were identified: horizontal ears (P posture); ears risen up (R posture); ears pointed backward (B posture); and asymmetric posture (A posture). In a second experiment, we studied how these ear postures were affected by specific emotional states elicited by exposing sheep to experimental situations in which elementary characteristics (ie suddenness and unfamiliarity, negative contrast and controllability) were manipulated. We found that: (i) the horizontal P posture corresponds to a neutral state; (ii) sheep point their ears backward (B posture) when they face unfamiliar and unpleasant uncontrollable situations, hence likely to elicit fear; (iii) they point their ears up (R posture) when facing similar negative situations but controllable, hence likely to elicit anger; and (iv) they expressed the asymmetric A posture in very sudden situations, likely to elicit surprise. By cross-fostering psychological and ethological approaches, we are able to propose an interpretation of ear postures in sheep relative to their emotions.

Appraisal theories state that an emotion results from an individual's evaluation of a stimulating event, which is based on a set of criteria. Each criterion triggers specific expressions that can be modulated by the outcome of other criteria. The authors analyzed the effects of the criteria of suddenness, unfamiliarity, and their combination on behavioral and cardiac responses in lambs (Ovis aries). Lambs were exposed to a visual stimulus that appeared either rapidly or slowly and was either unfamiliar or familiar. Suddenness induced a startle response and an increase in heart rate. Unfamiliarity induced an orientation response. The combination of suddenness and unfamiliarity enhanced both the heart rate increase and the behavioral orientation response. These results support the hypotheses of specificity and modulation of emotional expressions.