A number of abnormal activities had been observed in a group of 30 lambs (R lambs; 10 Shetland (SH),10 Scottish Blackface (SB) and 10 Welsh Mountain (WM), half females and half entire males), on a restricted allowance (about mature maintenance intake and 0.5 of ad libitum intake), of a high quality pelleted diet (Diet A; 200g/kg crude protein, HMJ/kg ME). The lambs had been individually housed since 8 weeks of age, in pens (2m x lm), made up of metal barred gates with wooden slatted floors. Abnormal oral activities included some that caused obvious husbandry problems, such as wool-biting and slat chewing, and others which caused no overt damage, but may nevertheless be associated with impaired welfare (Cooper and Nicol 1993), such as bar-biting and repetitive licking. In a preliminary observation at 22 weeks of age, lambs only ate in the hour following food presentation (Fig 1), after which all of the allowance had been eaten, and abnormal oral activities were recorded in 30% of scans. Similar repetitive activities, described as “stereotypies” have been associated with food restriction in dry sows (Appleby and Lawrence 1987). In a series of observations, we investigated the effect of increasing weight and nutrient value of the lamb's diet on the incidence of oral stereotypies, whilst minimising any influence on the ongoing feed trial.