This study examined the significance of the vocalizations and behavior of mother sheep and goats and their young when mother and young were apart on Mongolian summer pastures, in order to consider situations that may be viewed as positive or negative vocalizations, which could serve as an objective indicator necessary for assessing livestock welfare.

Vocalizations when mother and young were apart were observed in ewes, lambs, and kids during migration and grazing, and in mother goats during migration and when at rest.

The duration of vocalizations between mother and young during migration was significantly longer for the mothers than for the young (P＜0.05). Additionally, the duration of vocalizations between ewes and lambs during grazing was significantly longer for the ewes than for the lambs (P＜0.05).

The vocal pressure of vocalizations between ewes and lambs was significantly higher for the ewes than the lambs observed during migration, and significantly higher for the lambs than for the ewes during migration and grazing, and when at rest (P＜0.05).

In the sounds made by mother and young after those vocalizations they made while apart, vocalizations made from the time mother and young encountered each other through to nursing/suckling showed certain characteristics in terms of fundamental frequency, formant, and vocal pressure. The duration of the vocalizations and their aspects of pitch and amplitude, when put into two large categories of “when nursing/suckling” and “when not nursing/suckling”, seem to indicate that they could be important factors in considering the emotional states of the animals.

In particular it was shown that the duration of positive vocalizations by sheep/goats was short, and that there was little variation in the fundamental frequency and formant. Negative vocalizations tended to have longer vocalization durations and could be identified by the variations observed in the fundamental frequency and formant.

In this study, we investigated the adipogenic functions of astaxanthin, during adipogenesis of sheep preadipocytes.  Our data showed that adipogenic markers (PPARγ and C/EBP β), adipocytokine factors (TNF-α, Chemerin, Leptin, and Adiponectin) gene expressions controlled at day12 after treatment with astaxanthin adipogenic induction medium.  Furthermore, astaxanthin increased sheep preadipocyte proliferation.  These results demonstrate that astaxanthin regulates lipid metabolism and cell proliferation in sheep adipocytes.