Somalian sheep and goat behavior: Feeding behavior. Social behavior. Sexual behavior. Parental behavior. Drinking and excretory behavior. Exploratory behavior. Conflict behavior. Sleep behavior. Aggression and fear behavior etc.

1. University of Somalia (uniso)
• Course : animal behavior
• Lecture: sheep and goat behavior
• by Dr abdirashid ahmed

3. INTRODUCTION
Behavior is the reaction of an animals
(Sheep & Goat) to a certain stimulus
or the manner in which it interacts
with its environments.
is the study
in the animal’s
of animal
natural
Ethology
behaviour
habits.

4. TYPESOFBEHAVIOR
Feeding behavior.
Social behavior.
Sexual behavior.
Parental behavior.
Drinking and excretory behavior.
Exploratory behavior.
Conflict behavior.
Sleep behavior.
Aggression and fear behavior etc.

5. FEEDINGBEHAVIOURIN GOATS
Goats are natural browsers,
preferring to eat leaves, twigs,
vines and shrubs.
They are very agile and will
stand on their hind legs to reach
vegetation.
Goats likes to eat the tops of
plants.
Goats will not eat mouldy or
musty feed and generally avoid
poisonous plants unless they
are wilted and then are more
palatable.

6. Sheep are grazers, preferring
to eat short, tender grasses
and clover.
Their dietary preference is
forbs ( broad leaf weeds )
and they like to graze close
to the soil surface.
FEEDINGBEHAVIOURINSHEEP

7. SOCIALBEHAVIOR
Social behavior is also called
behavior of association.
Sheep and goats are
together inassociated
groups.
Sheep and goats are move in
groups tend to follow a
leader.
The leader of the herd is very
strong, aggressive and able
to offer some protection to
some members of the group.

8. DRINKINGBEHAVIOR
The drinking behavior of a animal
is influenced by the part of the
brain called the hypothalamus.
Sheep and goat usually drink
water 1-5 times a day.
Sheep and goat on an average
require 2-10 litres per day for
drinking.
Daily water consumption depends
on the following factors:-
1.Body size of the animal.
2.Physiological condition.
3.Season.
4. Nature of feed etc.

9. SEXUALBEHAVIOR
Essentially, the behavioral
manifestation of sex depends upon
the action of sex hormones on the
central nervous system. Some
characters of the sexual behavior: -
Nosing & smelling of the female’s
vulva by male’s.
Flicking out of the tongue.
Low –pitched bleating sounds.
Butting of the female’s
hindquarters.
False mounting attempts.
Female animals are not always
passive in courtship .For example,
the ewe actively solicits the ram by
nuzzling his flank or scrotum.

10. PARENTALBEHAVIOR
Parental behavior is well shown
by mother- offspring relationship.
They seek remote or hidden places
for giving birth.
After birth, the sheep and goat may
spend some time grooming and
cleaning amniotic fluid from the
newborn.
Assisting the young ones to suckle.
This may be done by lying down
or adopting a suitable orientation
that enables the newborn to locate
the teat.

11. SLEEPBEHAVIOR
Sleeping habits vary in
different animal species.
The purpose of sleep and rest
is to restore the body . Like
mating and feeding behavior.
Sheep and goats sleep for
about 8 hours and are awake
for about 16 hours a day.
Sheep and goats sleep in a
sitting position.

12. COMMUNICATIONBEHAVIOR
Communication exists when
some type of information is
exchanged between individual
animals.
This may occur with the
transfer of information through
any of the senses.
A distress call, involving a
different type of sound, occurs
from either the female or her
young when they become
separated.
Young animals cry for help
when disturbed or distressed:-
lambs bleat.
Adult animals call for help
when under stress.

13. CLIMBINGANDMOULDING BEHAVIOR
Goats are remarkable in their
ability to climb and can
move safety along narrow
mountain path to graze
among the rocks .
This ability can be a problem
in farming as goats will
climb fence stay to jump
over, so electric fencing is
necessary to run goats,
especially at the high
stocking rates needed to
make them eat weeds.
Goats will also mould holes
below fences to escape.

14. EXCRETORYBEHAVIOR
Excretory behavior is also called
eliminative behavior.
Excretory behavior refers to the
pattern of behavior connected with
the evacuation of faeces or urine
from the body.
The amount of material evacuated
and the number of times, it is
eliminated, depends on the amount
of food eaten, the type of food, the
temperature of the surroundings,
and the animal itself.
Animals defecate and urinate more
when stress or excited.

15. EXPLORATORYBEHAVIOR
Exploratory behavior is the
type of behavior in which the
animal searches an object in its
surrounding to satisfy its
curiosity.
Exploratory behavior is usually
investigative.
Exploratory behavior appears to
be increased by strangeness of
the environment, and by its
spaciousness and complexity.
Exploratory behavior enables
an animal to learn about its
environment.

16. SHELTERSEEKINGBEHAVIOR
Animals crowd together in
snow and cold winds.
Animals seek shelter to trees
when it rains.
Sheep and goat seek shady
area for rest and rumination
if weather is hot.
In extreme situation animals
pile-up to the extent that
some get smother.

17. CONFLICTBEHAVIOR
opposition(conflict)
Conflict behavior is the
between
behavioral tendencies.
The dominant buck is
aggressive during the breeding
season.
Sheep and goats are establish a
dominance hierarchy in flocks,
sometimes through head
butting.
This reason, animals of similar
age should be grouped together
so that bullying will be
reduced.

18. LEARNINGBEHAVIOR
Learning is the process which
produces change in individual
behavior as the result of
experience.
The factor include the age of the
animal, its environment,
rewards associated with
learning, as well as constraints
on learning.
Younger animals are more
susceptible to learning than are
the adult animals.
Farm animals respond to calls
or whistles of the producer.

19. AGGRESSIONAND FEAR
Animal aggression is the tendency
of one animal to want to inflict
damage on another animal, or the
tendency to initiate vigorous
conflict.
The dominant buck is aggressive
during the breeding season.
Dominant animals are inclined to
be more aggressive with other
animals and usually feed first at
trough.
Factors which affect aggression:-
Hormones, Experience, Appetitive
behavior, External factors.

20. ANOMALOUSBEHAVIOR
Anomalous behavior is any
behavior which is a variant
of a normal activity,
displayed abnormally, e.g.-
excessive self-grooming.
Anomalous sexual behavior
in male animals includes
excessive libido, reduced sex
drive etc.
Anomalous behaviour may
be regarded as abnormal or
irregular behaviour.

21. BEHAVIORDURINGHANDLING
ANDRESTRAINT
Most animals are handled and
restrained several times during
their lifetime.
Ease of handling depends
largely on the animals’
temperament, size and previous
experience and the design of
the handling facilities.
Understanding animals
behavior can assist in
preventing injury, undue stress
and physical exertion for both
animals and producers.

22. MANAGEMENTOFBEHAVIOR
1.Giving training to regulate behavior.
2.Control by maneuvering the animals by
anticipation of their behavior.
3.The use of physical force.
4.By use of mechanical disadvantages.
5.By the use of drugs etc.

23. CONCLUSION
Animal(sheep & goat )behavior results from the
interaction between stimuli in an animals internal and
external environments.
Knowledge of animal behaviour will help producer to be
more efficient in managing livestock enterprises which
will be safer and more production.
Animals also change their behaviour from season to
season, mainly as a person to change in weather condition.
Pattern of animals behaviour is determined chiefly by
heredity but it also can be modified by training and
learning.