Abstract
Data pertaining to various factors supposed to be concerned with mortality among lambs and kids were obtained from the record of the Livestock Experiment Station, Rakh Kheirewala, District Leyyah for the period 198t-88, to suggest im-provekmanagement practices for securing better survival percentage in them. The overall average lamb and kid mortality among different breeds was 8.76 and 13.76% respectively, about 56% higher in kids than in lambs. Breedwise mortality among lambs of Thalli, Pak-Karakul, Sipli and Kachhi was 10.74, 9.15, 5.27 and 4.53%, whereas among kids of Nachi, Beetal, Dara Din Panah, Teddy and Pak-Angora breeds was 7.56, 9.47, 15.86, 18.08 and 10.20% respectively. Sexwise, there was a mi-nor difference in mortality of male and female kids, whereas among lambs it was 4.82 and 3.94% respectively. The overall mortality rate decreased with the increase in age of both lambs and kids. The overall frequency distribution of mortality among lambs increased with the increase in birth weight, whereas the kid mortality was in-versely proportional to birth weight. The lamb and kid mortality increased with shift from single to multiple births, The flock size affected the mortality significantly in both lambs and kids. Lambs born in summer (dry hot) suffered the highest death losses (33.37%), whereas it was the highest among kids born in spring (31.96%). Pneumonia was the single disease which caused the highest losses in lambs and kids.
INTRODUCTION
The success of sheep/goat farming is measured in terms of the number of lambs/kids successfully reared in a given season since lamb/kid mortality is one of the major problems that may adversely af-fect the success of any sheep/goat enter-prise. The information on causes of mortal-ity among lambs/kids is quite meagre. Be-sides diseases, there are a number of other factors which may contribute to the mortal-ity of lambs/kids. Various factors that might contribute to the Iamb/kid mortality were studied with a view to evolve improved man-agement practices for securing better sur-
vivid percentage among them which is con-sidered an important prerequisite for suc-cessful sheep and goat farming.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data pertaining to various factors sup-posed to he concerned with mortality among lambs and kids were obtained from the record of the Livestock Experiment Station, Rakh Kheirewala, District Leyyah for the period from 1981 to 1988. The record of the following breeds of sheep and goats was used to determine the possible causes asso-ciated with mortality among lambs and kids from birth to weaning age (120 days).
