H—29

(5) The time interval between appearance and delivery of lamb varied from —l5 minutes to + 1 hour ; 60 per cent, of ewes required less than half an hour. Of the 28 ewes (13 per cent.) requiring more than one hour, 22 were assisted in delivery. (6) Distribution of lambing occurred very evenly over successive four-hour periods from 12 p.m. with the same distribution between night and day. (7) Bight different types of presentations were recorded ; 70 per cent, of lambswere presented in the " normal" manner (both forefeet and head together) and 30 per cent. " abnormally." Of these the majority had one forefoot retained (18 per cent.). Both forefeet were back in 6-5 per cent, of cases, (8) The time between delivery and first suckling varied from under 50 minutes; (18 per cent, of cases) to over 120 minutes (16 per cent, of cases). Approximately 60 per cent, suckled within the hour. (9) The placentas were voided over intervals varying from under 1 hour (6 per' cent.) to over 4 hours (9 per cent.) from delivery ; 67 per cent, of ewes voided the placenta within 3 hours. (10) Mothering ability of the ewe increased with age of ewe fairly consistently for each age from 2 to 6 years. (11) Of 13 ewes with udder abnormalities, 3 had little or no milk, 8 had one blind and dry quarter (3 from shearing cuts), 1 had abnormally-large teats, and 1 a very pendulous udder. (12) There was little or no relationship between the vigour of the lamb immediately after birth and the following factors : sex of lamb, age of ewe, birth weight, type of presentation, duration of birth, or mothering ability of ewe. (13) Lamb Mortality.—Of the 231 ewes observed, 52 lambed twins, so that 283 lambs were born ; 37 died either before or at birth or during the first month of life :

(14) More detailed classification of mortality gave the following results :

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— | Number. Percentage of Lambs Born. 1 Born dead .. Died first week Died 7-28 days 20 7 10 7-1 2-5 * 3-5 Totals 37 131

Cause or Category. Number. i Percentage of All Lambs. Milk-fever 8 . 2-8 Died before birth 3 11 Malpresentations or difficult deliveries .. 8 2-8 Unsound udder 3 11 Death of ewe 2 0-7 Accidental death 6 2-1 Storm 9 0-7 No apparent cause 5 1-8 Totals 37 13-1