Maternal behaviour presents a wide variety of patterns among the mammals. Its manifestation depends mainly on the degree of precocity of the young at birth but also on the social structure of the species and their ecology. Sheep, as most ungulates, are part of the so-called precocial species in which mothers give birth to a small litter of fully developed young capable of following them shortly after birth. Mothers in these species develop discriminative care allowing only their own young to suck. The following chapter will focus on the immediate factors that control the onset of mother and neonate behaviour at parturition.