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MORTALITY IN SHEEP AND GOATS IN INDIA [Vol. XX, Part II,
at Peshawar were heaviest in adults of three years and over. Losses from' encephalo-
myelitis' at Hissar and from unknown causes were greatest in animals under a year
old.
Seasonal occurrence of deaths
In Tables III and VI, deaths falling in the various groups have been arranged
seasonally.
Group 1. In group 1, the death rate will naturally largely depend on the season
of birth. Any seasonal effect will, therefore, mean little unless births are occurr-
ing with some uniformity all the year round, which they are not (Tables VII and
VIII). As the present figures stand, it is seen (Table III) that for young sheep
June and July are by far the healthiest months and December the worst. May
is also rather high, due chiefly to events at Peshawar and Quetta. The total seasonal
distribution for 443 cases may be put as follows : winter (November to February)
42.9 per cent, summer (March to June) 27.3 per cent, and monsoon period (July to
October) 29.8 per cent. Differences are not significant. With goats (Table VI)
the corresponding figures for 236 cases are 46.6, 37.3 and 16.1 per cent. Difference
between the highest and the lowest figures is highly significant.
Group 2. It contains 1,465 cases in sheep, which for purpose of the enquiry
are connected with parasitism. Here again the death rate is minimum in June and
July, and also in August and September, rising again from October to April. The
number of deaths from November to February is significantly higher than at other
seasons. The rather high incidence in March and April is due to fluke disease at
Banihal. If this is omitted, a higher incidence of parasitic effects in the winter
months, October to February, stands out more clearly. With 80 cases in goats
at Etah, the great bulk occur from July to December.
Group 3. In group 3, apart from Banihal, which seems to have a rather special
incidence distribution (June to September in 1943), 54.2 per cent of the pneumonia
cases in sheep occurred between October and March. The total cases, however,
are only 153, very few for stations so widely distributed in India. The differences
in any case are not significant. With goats at Etah, the bulk of the cases are re-
turned as 'heamorrhagic septicaemia', and their occurrence is during the hot months,
April to June.
Group 4. In group 4, in sheep, 39.6 per cent of the deaths from 'old age'
are in winter (November to February), 34.6 per cent in summer and 25.8 per cent
in the monsoon. Differences are not significant. The worst month is January.
Another bad month is June, due mainly to events at the farm at Dhar. Of the total
deaths from 'old age', 53.9 per cent occurred between October and March.
Group 5. In group 5 (sheep only), with sheep-pox at Orai, nearly 50 per cent
of fatal cases occur during the dry summer season, as expected. Of the total sheep-
pox deaths, 69 per cent occur between April and September. At Banihal heavy
rain is likely from January to March; the rain which killed so many sheep occurred
in March 1944. The obscure disease at Quetta occurred mainly in June, beginning
in April and fading out in July, perhaps suggesting vector transmission. There
are rather more deaths from 'unknown' causes in the winter,—58.3 per cent between