Physiological and behavioral response to weaning stress in primiparous and multiparous ewes

In sheep, parity influences maternal behavior and the dam-offspring bond. Weaning involves the breaks of the dam-offspring bond, resulting in ewe stress responses. The aim of this study was to determine whether primiparous and multiparous dams differ in their response. Twenty-three Finnish-Landrace x Polwarth dams were used: twelve were multiparous dams (MD) and eleven primiparous dams (PD). Body weight, serum protein concentrations, and behavior were evaluated before and after weaning. The increase in the percentage of body weight between day - 3 and day 5 post-weaning was greater in PD ewes than in MD ewes (p < 0.01), Most of the differences observed between groups in behavioral responses were found in the first two days after weaning, where the MD ewes displayed lower frequency of grazing, ruminating and lying down behaviors (p < 0.05), while they had greater frequency of vocalizing, pacing, and walking behaviors than PD ewes (p < 0.05). Using global positioning devices, we found that MD traveled a greater distance than PD (p = 0.04). Serum protein concentration did not differ significantly according to the parity of the dams. In conclusion, this study showed that maternal parity affected the weaning stress response, with multiparous dams exhibiting greater stress, as evidenced by behavioral indicators and lower daily body weight gain.