Practices to Reduce Offspring Mortality in Sheep and Goat Husbandry

Abstract

The economic success of farms with small ruminants depends to a large extent on increasing the number of offspring weaned per animal and reducing production costs. On small ruminant farms, all types of investments made throughout the year are not as effective as those made during the birthing period. Increasing the productivity level of the animals while reducing the associated losses of offspring are the key words for profitable and sustainable farming with small ruminants. It is well known that the most important factor affecting productivity in sheep and goat farming is the yield of offspring, and lamb and goat incomes depend on the level of fertility, the proportion of lambs and kids reared and the live weight of lambs and kids. Litter mortality varies depending on the production system and type of husbandry on the farm. These deaths usually occur in the first ten days after birth. Some precautions to be taken during these processes contribute significantly to the survival of the offspring. Worldwide, litter mortality in small ruminants varies between 4-21% depending on heredity and environmental factors. Most deaths in the offspring occur in the first week after birth. Some of these deaths are due to litter shedding, while others are due to postnatal bacterial or viral infections. A high number of lambs and kids at birth only makes sense if the losses of lambs and kids until weaning or marketing are low. For this reason, measuring reproductive performance as a function of growth results gains economic significance. In this context, this study aimed to investigate practices to reduce progeny mortality in small ruminant breeding.