Housing and Husbandry Practices to Reduce Mortality Rate of Offspring in Small Ruminant Production

Any investment made by sheep or goat breeders throughout the year in small ruminant farms is not as effective as investments made during the birth. The economic success of sheep and goat farms depends largely on the increase in the number of lamb or kid weaned at per animal and reducing production costs. For profitable and sustainable small ruminant production, firstly the offspring deaths during the growing period should be reduced. Lamb or kid mortality rates also vary depending on the production system and the method of housing. The offspring mortalities occur more often in the first ten days after birth. Some measures to be taken during the mentioned period will make a significant contribution to the offspring survivability. For this reason, it is necessary for the lamb/kids at born to have proper applications such as housing, nutrition, and health-protection for profitable production in small ruminant farms that are intensive production. Otherwise, a sustainable small ruminant will not possible. In this article, some suggestions were made regarding the structural and technical applications that should be made during the growing period in intensive small ruminant farms