Factors associated with neonatal lamb mortality.
Three factors were associated with lamb neonatal mortality: birthweight (P<0.003), number of lambs born per ewe (P<0.001) and lamb sex (P<0.32). Lamb birthweight had the greatest predictive power for survival during the neonatal period. The neonatal mortality rate was 14.3%. The age specific mortality for lambs one day old was 7.9% (P<0.05). Seventy-nine percent of the lambs that died, did so by the end of the fourth post-natal day. Starvation was associated with 58.3% (P < 0.05) of the lamb deaths.
Huffman
E M
EM
Veterinary Medical Health Management P.O. Box 1688, Hanford, CA 93232 USA.
Kirk
J H
JH
Pappaioanou
M
M