Factors influencing lamb mortality from birth to weaning in Pakistan

The objective of the study was to investigate the association of different factors with lamb mortality. for this purpose data of 6084 lambs (1998 to 2007) was used from province of punjab maintained at livestock experiment station,(les) rakhkhair-e-wala,district layyah,of the pak-karakul,thalli and kacchi sheep breeds. the results,year of birth and season of birth had a significant (p<0.01) effect on lamb mortality rate at all ages while sex and type of birth showed non-significant effect. the maximum lamb mortality rate was 17.2%,observed in year 2001 followed by 16.6 %and 5.8% in 2002 and 2004,respectively. the overall mortality rate (10.2%) was noticed in female lambs and male lamb (8.8%). the lambs during early ages showed higher mortality,when compared with those of old ages. the lambs born in triplet or twins showed high mortality than the single born. the highest mortality rate (12.2%) was estimated during spring season following (5.5%) in summer season. the overall mortality rate (43.7%) due to pneumonia was recorded followed by gastro-enteritis (19.2%) and heat stroke (10.7%). the ewe of 3 year age showed the highest overall lamb mortality rate (44.1%) than 4 year old dam (25.7 %),rate was reduced as the dam become older. it is concluded that all these factors related to disease and management,which can be minimized by proper preventive medication and better management.