Pen confinement of yearling ewes with cows or heifers for 14 days to produce bonded sheep

Mixed species stocking is commonly a more ecologically sound and efficient use of forage resources than single species stocking, especially in pasture s having complex assemblages of forage species. However, in many environmen ts livestock predation on especially smaller ruminants adds an extra challe nge to mixed species stocking. When mixed sheep and cattle remain consisten tly as a cohesive group (flerd), predation risks are lessened, while fencin g and herding costs are reduced. To establish a cohesive group (bond), a 30 -day bonding period in which young sheep and cattle pairs are penned togeth er is currently recommended. The purpose of this research was to test if a bond could be produced in < 30 days (14 days) using pen confinement: thus r educing feed, labor, and overhead costs. Additionally, we tested whether co w age affects cohesiveness of bonded pairs immediately following 14 days of pen confinement. Sixteen mature cows (7-8 years of age) and sixteen 9-mont h-old heifers were randomly paired with one of 32 yearling ewe lambs. Eight cow/ewe (PC) and eight heifer/ewe (PH) pairs were maintained individually in 2 m x G m pens for 14 days. The other eight-cow/ewe (NC) and heifer/ewe (NH) pairs were separated by species with each species maintained on separa te pastures for the 14-day period. After 14 days, pairs were released in ob servation paddocks and separation distance between treatment pairs was meas ured during a 30-min open field test. Other behaviors were also noted and r ecorded during the field test. Separation distance did not differ (P = 0.97 3) between the PC and PH treatments, however, separation distance for NC ve rsus NH (P < 0.004), NC versus PC (P < 0.001), and NH versus PH (P < 0.002) all differed. Mean separation distance (meters) and standard errors were 4 0 +/- 3.9, 3 +/- 0.3, 76 +/- 5.3, and 4 +/- 1.4 for NH, PH, NC, and PC trea tments, respectively. Overall, the animals that were penned spent more time grazing and less time walking than animals not previously penned for 14 da ys. Penned animals also vocalized less than non-penned animals during the o pen field test. The bond sheep formed to the bovines was not affected by co w age. These data suggest that inter-specific bond formation using pen conf inement can be accomplished within 14 days, representing a 53% savings in t ime and associated costs when compared to pen confinement lasting 30 days. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.