Haemonchosis is an important cause of anaemia in sheep worldwide, particularly those that are kept in pasture-based systems in warm, high rainfall environments. Potential outcomes vary based on the severity of infection and the sheep’s immune response, however, in some sheep infection can lead to death. The consequences of Haemonchus contortus infection mean that it has been well-studied in a range of different farming systems. However, to our knowledge, there has not been a recent review focused on the pathophysiology of anaemia caused by haemonchosis. Thus, this review provides an in-depth discussion of the literature related to the pathophysiology of haemonchosis and associated clinical signs for hyperacute, acute, and chronic haemonchosis. Additionally, haematological and biochemical findings are presented, and various diagnostic methods are assessed.

Ewe wastage is the combination of on-farm mortality and premature culling. Internationally, there is limited research on actual wastage incidence and causes in commercial sheep flocks. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that reports both lifetime wastage and detailed annual wastage in a sample of commercial New Zealand flocks. This study utilized data collected from 13,142 ewes from four cohorts on three commercial New Zealand farms (Farm A 2010-born, Farm A 2011-born, Farm B, Farm C), during the period 2011–2017, as they aged from replacement hoggets to 6-year-old ewes (Farm A and Farm B) or 3-year-old ewes (Farm C). Data collection visits occurred at three or four key management times each year, namely pre-mating, pregnancy diagnosis, pre-lambing and weaning. At each visit, body condition score (BCS) was assessed and any ewes that were culled or had died on farm were recorded. As this was a lifetime study, each ewe was assigned an outcome and corresponding ‘exit age’. By the end of the study, all ewes that had exited their respective flocks, were classified as either prematurely culled, or dead/missing, or if still in the flock, as censored, and either the exact date or interval in which they exited the flock was recorded. Semi-parametric competing risk (premature culling vs. dead/missing), interval-censored survival models were developed to: 1. describe the association between hogget reproductive outcomes and risk of subsequent wastage, and 2. assess pre-mating BCS as a predictor of wastage in that production year. Of the 13,142 enrolled ewes, 50.4% exited their respective flocks due to premature culling and 40.0% due to on-farm dead/missing, giving a total of 90.4% that exited due to wastage. Annual mortality incidence ranged from 3.5 to 40.2%. As a hogget, wastage incidence ranged from 7.6 to 45.4%. Pregnancy or rearing a lamb as a hogget did not increase risk of subsequent wastage. In all years, pre-mating BCS was a predictor of ewe wastage, with odds of wastage lower with increasing BCS. Therefore, farmers should focus on improving pre-mating BCS to 3.5/5.0 by assessing ewe BCS at weaning, allowing poorer-BCS ewes to be managed to gain BCS before re-breeding.

Currently, comparisons of lamb output from either ewe lambs or mature ewes are confounded, as the age groups are bred to different sires, and lamb at different times. The aim of this experiment was to compare the reproductive performance of ewe lambs and mature ewes, bred at the same time to the same sires, and lambed in the same climatic conditions. The experiment included 1082 mature ewes and 1014 ewe lambs that gave birth to 2656 lambs. Birth weights of lambs were 3.92 ± 0.06 kg and 5.02 ± 0.06 kg, and weaning weights of lambs were 24.03 ± 0.24 kg and 26.68 ± 0.29 kg for ewe lambs and mature ewes, respectively. Lambs born to ewe lambs were less vigorous than lambs born to mature ewes, even when adjusted for their lighter birth weights. Lamb survival during the neonatal period was 92.2% and 97.3% for lambs born to ewe lambs or mature ewes, respectively. The effect of birth weight on survival within each dam age and lamb birth rank followed a quadratic form, and differed for each group. Farmers should preferentially allocate all ewe lambs and mature ewes bearing triplets to lamb in paddocks that provide better conditions for lambing.

Multi-object tracking (MOT) methods have the potential to significantly improve precision livestock farming (PLF) by enabling simultaneous tracking of multiple animals in complex environments. However, research on MOT applications in livestock monitoring is limited, with state-of-the-art (SOTA) models primarily tested on benchmark datasets of pedestrians or vehicles. This systematic review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. We identified 111 recent papers published from January 2019 to January 2025 using a keyword search for MOT and livestock from three scientific databases. The use-cases, datasets, and algorithms of MOT applied to livestock were thoroughly examined. This review addresses the limitations in existing systems to consistently preserve individual animal identities in long sequences. Key challenges that need to be addressed include frequent occlusions and complex, non-linear motion patterns that are characteristic of livestock behaviour. We identified 21 recent open-source SOTA models currently used in other disciplines (beyond livestock) that offer solutions to these challenges. Our analysis revealed research gaps and opportunities for developing tailored MOT techniques to overcome the challenges of real-world livestock monitoring. For MOT to provide valuable data for PLF purposes, it must perform long-term video analysis and address obstacles such as frequent and long-term occlusion, similar appearances between livestock as well as their non-linear motion. Investigating SOTA models showed that while tracking-by-detection is still the most widely used paradigm, tracking-by-attention, transformer-based end-to-end tracking architecture, provides a novel approach. Improvements in detection association strategies and motion models, as well as innovations in multi-camera tracking, can lead to improved animal health, productivity, and welfare in the livestock industry. This review highlights the importance of adapting and refining MOT methods for livestock monitoring.

Allogrooming is a common affiliative behaviour with hygienic, physiological and social consequences, and has historically been examined in non‐human primates in order to understand the evolution of sociality. In primates, allogrooming is well‐known to have evolved for an antiparasitic function, leading to physiological consequences and further adoption of the behaviour for social functions. This includes exchanging benefits in a biological market, post‐conflict reconciliation and long‐term social bond formation. The relevant importance of these functions is largely undetermined in many non‐primate taxa, including ungulates. We aimed to evaluate the current evidence for allogrooming function in ungulates, asking whether the behaviour serves a social function, and if so, to what magnitude. Ungulates show large differences in their allogrooming behaviour, but the variation of these has not been truly understood. We find that although allogrooming in ungulates has been co‐opted for social purposes such as bond formation, the variety of these has not been fully explored. Identifying species‐specific allogrooming functions can help to clarify the context of behaviour; this allows us to improve our knowledge of how individuals and groups interact within a population, and understand the implications of this behaviour when deducing animal state and sociality. We conclude that there is great potential for additional research into the benefits of affiliative behaviour in ungulates, and we encourage further exploration into the social functions of allogrooming in ungulates.