Determining the influence of rearing method on lamb weaning behaviour | Ugotavljanje vpliva tehnologije reje na obnašanje jagnjet ob odstavitvi

English. Weaned lambs experience changes in feeding and management practices that may influence growth and behaviour. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the change in growth, and behaviour in early weaned lambs subjected to two rearing methods (natural and artificial) prior to weaning. The experiment was conducted with 24 lambs of the Assaf breed, divided into two groups (12 animals per group). The control group was reared naturally with their mothers until weaning (NR), while the lambs in the other group were reared artificially (AR) with milk replacer. After weaning, the AR lambs grew faster, allowing them to approximate the body weight of the NR lambs. On the first day after weaning, the NR lambs spent less than 1% of their time consuming concentrate and less than 2.5% of their time consuming alfalfa hay, resulting in 34.4% fewer feeding attempts than the AR lambs (p < 0.01). During the trial period, the NR lambs spent more time standing and moving (p < 0.05), and less time lying down, playing (p < 0.05) and feeding, compared to the AR lambs. This shows that the method of rearing before weaning has a significant influence on the behaviour. This warrants further research into factors influencing behaviour and its control in early weaned lambs.

Slovenian. Jagnjeta so ob odstavitvi izpostavljena spremembam v prehrani in načinu reje, kar lahko vpliva na njihovo rast in obnašanje. Namen raziskave je bil oceniti spremembe v rasti in obnašanju zgodaj odstavljenih jagnjet, ki so bila pred odstavitvijo rejena po dveh različnih tehnologijah (sesanje pri materi ali vzreja z mlečnim nadomestkom). Poskus je bil izveden s 24 jagnjeti pasme assaf, razdeljenimi v dve skupini (12 živali na skupino). Kontrolna skupina je do odstavitve sesala pri materah (NR), poskusna skupina pa je bila napajana z mlečnim nadomestkom (AR). Po odstavitvi so jagnjeta AR hitreje pridobivala telesno maso kot jagnjeta iz kontrolne skupine (NR), kar je povzročilo, da sta se telesni masi med skupinama po odstavitvi skoraj izenačili. Prvi dan po odstavitvi so jagnjeta NR porabila manj kot 1 % časa za zauživanje koncentrata in manj kot 2,5 % časa za zauživanje lucerninega sena, kar je pomenilo 34,4 % manj poskusov hranjenja kot pri jagnjetih AR (p < 0,01). V času poskusa so jagnjeta NR, v primerjavi z jagnjeti AR, preživela več časa stoje in v gibanju (p < 0,05) ter manj časa leže, pri igri (p < 0,05) in zauživanju krme. To kaže, da ima tehnologija reje pred odstavitvijo pomemben vpliv na obnašanje jagnjet po odstavitvi in upravičuje nadaljnje raziskave dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na oblike obnašanja zgodaj odstavljenih jagnjet.