Abstract
Normal bone ash levels were determined on first phalangeal bones from lambs dying of acute causes and from abattoir specimens. First phalanges were chosen because they represent a whole bone thereby ensuring constant and natural proportion which would be difficult if sampling only a portion of a bone. No practical difference in percentage ash, expressed in terms of green bone weight, was found between fore or hind feet of young male or female sheep. Consequently a single regression equation can adequately express the relationship between bone ash and bone length for sheep up to about 9 months of age. Lambs suffering from hypocuprotic osteoporosis or osteodystrophy consistent with hypovitaminosis D have phalangeal bone ash values which tend to lie outside the lower range expected for normal sheep with first phalanges of similar length. Consequently bone ash can be a useful aid in the diagnosis of certain nutritional causes of lameness in sheep.
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