FACTORS CONTRIBUTING MORTALITY IN THE LAMBS OF THREE BREEDS Different factors like age of the dam, sex, age and weight of lamb at birth, season of birth, feeding of dam,predation etc. affect mortality in lambs

Different factors thought to have effect on the mortality of lambs w.r.t. 3 breeds of sheep have been presented. Kacchi breed had the highest lamb mortality (14.2%) followed by Thalli breed (11.9%) while that of Pak-Karakul was the lowest (7.3%). Female lamb had the highest overall mortality rate (10.2%) while that of male was the lowest (8.8%). The lamb had the highest overall mortality rate (36.7%) between age group of 91-120 days (3 months) while between 1-30 days (1 month) of age, mortality was the lowest (4.7%).The lamb had the highest overall mortality rate (12.2%) during spring while it was the lowest (5.5%) in summer. The lamb had the highest overall mortality rate (43.7%) due to pneumonia followed by gastro-enteritis (19.2%) and heat stroke (10.7%). The lamb had the highest overall mortality rate (44.1%) of the dam having 3 years of age followed by 4 years of age of dam (25.7%). Proper feeding of the pregnant ewes, controlled breeding and better management before lambing can play an important role in reducing the mortality.