Evaluación De La Morbilidad, Mortalidad Y Letalidad En La Hacienda Australia En Suesca Cundinamarca En El Periodo Febrero A Abril Del 2025.

Abstract

Sheep production is an important source of income for small and medium-sized producers in Colombia; however, its development is hampered by high morbidity and mortality. Due to this situation, and the lack of systematic records and detailed analysis of factors associated with sheep health, a retrospective cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study was conducted to determine the main causes of disease and death at the Australia farm, which has 1,400 floating sheep. The study included direct observation, clinical case records, necropsies, and statistical analysis using RStudio software. Frequency measures, central tendency, and statistical tests were calculated to identify the distribution of pathologies according to predominant symptoms and their relationship with different factors such as sex, age, breed, body condition, among others. The results showed a morbidity rate of 8.5% (119 animals) and a mortality rate of 4.7% (66 animals). The most prevalent disease was parasitic gastroenteritis with secondary anemia (60.5%), followed by interdigital pododermatitis (7.6%), and parasitic diarrheal syndrome without anemia (5.9%). This highlights the importance of parasitic diseases as the main health constraint. This analysis allows for evidence-based decision-making to improve herd health. In this sense, the need to implement different strategies that help reduce the percentages of sheep morbidity and mortality in Hacienda Australia is highlighted, such as: strengthening parasite control through the analysis of eggs per gram of feces and the famacha test, establishing vaccination plans, optimizing nutrition, maintaining systematic clinical records, training personnel in animal health and promoting the use of epidemiological analysis tools, contributing to the early identification of various pathologies, according to clinical and environmental variables, as well as providing timely management, with a view to improving the productivity and sustainability of Colombian sheep farms.