The list below outlines the features and cause of death in new-born dead lambs. Use the list in conjunction with your veterinarian to determine the cause of death of new-born lambs.
Feature
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Comment
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Liveweight < 3.5 kg
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At risk of exposure/hypothermia
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Liveweight > 5.5 kg
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At risk of dystocia (difficult birth)
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Has birth stain been cleaned?
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Mismothering or dead at birth
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Pads still on feet
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Hasn’t walked
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Skin on neck and chest/back: bruising or teeth marks?
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Bruising associated with teeth marks indicate predation to be the cause of death
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Do lungs float in water?
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If they float the lamb has breathed if they sink, the lamb died before birth
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Milk clot in stomach
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Lamb has suckled
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Kidney fat red
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Fat mobilised – lamb in nutritional deficit
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Kidney fat white
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Either dead at or soon after birth or lamb fed and lamb not under nutritional stress when died.
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Swollen tongue, head, neck
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Dystocia
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Genetic malformation
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Various features incompatible with life
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Thyroid weight >0.4g/kg birth weight
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Goitre iodine deficiency
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The common features of lambs that have died of hunger/mismothering/hypothermia are light birth weight, red kidney fat, and no milk clots.
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