Technical Notes: Survival Analysis of Single and Twin Lambs

Abstract

We illustrate the use of life tables and survival analysis for evaluating data on livestock losses. The techniques are used to compare the rate of coyote (Canis latrans) predation on single and twin lambs. Based on the number of lambs known to have been killed by predators, the survivorship of single and twin lambs was not significantly different (P>0.05) for any year of the study. Survival functions which can be generated and used to evaluate data on livestock losses include the cumulative proportion of livestock surviving at the end of an interval, probability density, and hazard rate.