title: Phalangeal bone ash as an aid in diagnosing some nutritional causes of lameness in sheep.
abstract: Normal bone ash levels were determined on first phalangeal bones from lambs dying of acute causes and from abattoir specimens. First phalanges were chosen because they represent a whole bone thereby ensuring constant and natural proportion which would be difficult if sampling only a portion of a bone. No practical difference in percentage ash, expressed in terms of green bone weight, was found between fore or hind feet of young male or female sheep. Consequently a single regression equation can adequately express the relationship between bone ash and bone length for sheep up to about 9 months of age. Lambs suffering from hypocuprotic osteoporosis or osteodystrophy consistent with hypovitaminosis D have phalangeal bone ash values which tend to lie outside the lower range expected for normal sheep with first phalanges of similar length. Consequently bone ash can be a useful aid in the diagnosis of certain nutritional causes of lameness in sheep.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000032:analysis*; D003300:Copper / Q000172:deficiency*; D003677:Deficiency Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D007794:Lameness, Animal / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D003300:Copper