There was no survey of lamb mortality carried out in 1992 by my Department. The results of a study carried out in 1984-85 at the Regional Veterinary Laboratory, Athlone, which were presented in a thesis to the National University of Ireland in 1991, showed that, of 315 carcases of lambs born live, 0.52 per cent showed evidence of predation damage. In 1984, my Department published a report entitled Sheep Production, Disease and Marketing which included reference to a survey of perinatal lamb mortality carried out by the Regional Veterinary Laboratory in Athlone in the period 1980 to 1982. That survey found from information derived from a questionnaire completed by farmers that 1.39 per cent of live lambs were killed by “foxes, dogs, etc.” and that, of the carcasses submitted voluntarily to the Athlone Laboratory, 1 per cent of neonatal deaths were classified as due to “predation”.
However, these indications of predation damage are unlikely to be fully representative of the national position since the study and survey were confined to lowland flocks while mortality due to predation is higher in hill and mountain flocks, farmers were less likely to submit carcasses for which there was a known cause of death and many carcasses of lambs killed by predation were likely to have disappeared.
The estimates given in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 123 of 27 October were based on the current experience of field officers of my Department and of Teagasc.