Lamb feedlot production in Spain : Most relevant health issues

- Main aspects related to the disease manifestation in fattening period and their effects on deaths and production results are exposed.
- The dynamic of the symptoms for coccidiosis and ORC during this period is exposed and the association between them is established.
- Ovine Respiratory Complex is the main cause of death in all situations during fattening period.
- Death due to ORC is closely related to situations of immunosuppression caused by stress and some diseases.

The productive results in Spanish fattening lamb depend on the interaction of several factors such as management, husbandry, nutrition and health. This article highlights the main aspects related to the disease manifestation in fattening period and their effects on deaths and production results. Most of the information related here, has been collected during the daily clinical practice. The dynamic of the symptoms for coccidiosis and ovine respiratory complex (ORC) during this period is exposed and the association between them is established. ORC is the main cause of death in all situations during fattening period, although there are different clinical presentations that exhibit differences about the etiology. This pathology, closely related to situations of immunosuppression, is favored by stress and diseases such as orf, acute infection by border disease virus and coccidiosis, which are present in over 40% of necropsied lambs. Finally, examples of how the pathology causes a decrease of the potential production in aspects such as growth rates, condemnations or quality of the final product are presented.