Hogget lamb mortality

W.H. McMillan

Whatawhata Hill Country Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hamilton

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production. 1983, 43: 33-36

Hogget lamb mortality in the Waihora sheep improvement programme from 1970/80 has ranged from 18 to 35% (mean = 24%). Hogget lambs born during the 1981 and 1982 lambings were used to study the timing, magnitude and causes of lamb mortality.

Mean mortality to weaning were 33% and 28% in each year. The distribution of deaths was similar in each of the periods: at birth, born alive but died by day 3 and died between day 4 and docking. Dystocia was the single largest cause of deaths to day 3 accounting for about 13 lamb/100 lambs born. Birth weight was an important factor in lamb deaths with an optimum range of 3.3 to 4.1 kg for minimum mortality.

Keywords: NZSAPAB; Lamb mortality; dystocia; birth weight; hoggets; ewe lambs; Waihora; Romney

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Last Updated 03-05-1997