Sheep genotypes and environments for less mastitis and better lamb survival

About 15% of all lambs born die before they are taken from their mothers. Investigations indicate that 6-9% of the ewes are culled because of mastitis. The economic loss for the sheep industry is substantial. Animal welfare is reduced. Lamb survival and m astitis may be both genetically and environmentally affected. Genotype by environmental interactions may exist. The main goal of the project is to investigate possibilities for increasing lamb survival and reducing the incidences of mastitis. The project will have close collaboration among scientists in animal breeding and ecology and thus contribute towards a more integrated (genetics-environmental effects) animal science approach. To achieve the main goal the project is divided into three partial goals: 1) Identification and estimation of important phenotypic, genetic and environmental parameters for the mentioned traits, and correlated traits, 2) Possibly include traits of importance to lamb survival and mastitis in the breeding work of the genotypes s tudied and 3) Estimation of the importance of genotype by environmental interactions for the traits studied in 1 and 2.