The maternal-offspring relationship in tailed and docked ewes and their lambs

Maternal behavior in the hours after lambing is critical for establishing the lamb–dam bond. In rodents, early-life pain alters maternal behavior, but it is unclear whether routine painful procedures like tail docking have similar long-term effects in sheep. We tested whether neonatal tail docking in female lambs altered (1) their maternal behavior and their offspring’s behavior after lambing and (2) behavioral and physiological stress responses to separation. Polypay ewe lambs were tail docked using the rubber ring method between 24 to 36 hours of age (n=11) or left undocked (n=10). At approximately 13 months of age, they gave birth to singleton (n=6) or twin (n=15) litters. Between 30 to 60 minutes after the last lamb’s birth, the ewe and her lamb(s) were moved to an individual maternity pen, where behaviors were video recorded for 2 hours. Between 6 to 12 hours after lambing, the lambs were separated from their dam for 15 minutes, with video recordings taken from 15 minutes before se..., , , # The maternal-offspring relationship in tailed and docked ewes and their lambs

This repository contains the data and R scripts used in the experiment described in the paper of the same name. The materials support analyses examining whether neonatal tail docking in ewes affects their own or their lambs’ behavior during the early postnatal period and following a brief separation event.

## Study Overview

We tested the long-term behavioral and physiological effects of neonatal tail docking in ewes by evaluating:

1. **Bonding behaviors** of docked or undocked ewes and their lambs during the early postnatal period.
2. **Responses to ewe-lamb separation**, approximately 6–12 hours postpartum.

**Subjects:**
Polypay ewe lambs were randomly assigned to a tail docking treatment:

* Docked using the rubber ring method at 24–36 hours old (n = 11)
* Left undocked (n = 10)

At ~13 months of age, they gave birth to singleton (n = 6) or twin (n = 15) litters.

**Observation Schedule:**

* **Postna...,