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The first three days of life are the most important for a lamb.

This is when the bond with its mother is established — without it, the lamb is likely to be rejected.

In fact, it’s estimated that one in two lambs die during this early period, either because the bond is established too late or not at all.

As you would expect this represents a significant loss for Australia’s sheep industry.

Samantha Bickell, a PhD scholar at the University of Western Australia, is investigating the role that temperament plays in establishing the ewe-lamb bond.

She believes that calmer ewes are better mothers as they are not as easily frightened.

“If the ewes are easily frightened, a disturbance could cause them to abandon their lambs,” she said.

Samantha’s study will focus on Merino sheep that have been selectively bred for either ‘calm’ or ‘nervous’ temperaments.

“This award will give me access to technologies that I can use to generate and analyse behavioural data never before obtained under field conditions,” she said.

“By understanding this behavioural role I hope to find innovative solutions to the problem of lamb mortality, thus improving sheep farming enterprises, as well as animal welfare.”