Sheep research hots up for transport and feedlots

The physiological responses of sheep to summer feedlots and to conditions similar to those experienced by sheep travelling on livestock ships are under investigation.

PhD student Catherine Stockman monitored crossbred lambs in a summer feedlot in the Western Australian wheatbelt for several weeks to determine their behaviour and body temperature responses, while the environmental conditions were also recorded.

Data from this work will be used in animal house experiments to investigate more closely the responses of sheep to those conditions.

'The climate controlled facility here at Murdoch University will allow us to mimic environmental conditions found on feedlots in the summertime, while we monitor their responses more intensively, to determine what effect those conditions have on productivity of the sheep,' Ms Stockman's supervisor, Anne Barnes said.

Previous experiments in the climate controlled facility have been conducted to investigate how sheep of different breeds and ages respond to the heat and humidity typical of a livestock voyage from Western Australia to the Middle East.

'We found that breeds such as Awassi and Merino sheep were fairly heat tolerant, certainly more so than the typical British type cattle breeds that have been studied,' said Ms Stockman.

'We found that the sheep continued to eat, and were able to maintain their body temperatures even under prolonged hot and humid conditions.'

Further applications of the climate controlled facility work will be to use core body temperature data in risk assessment software, to predict responses of animals to the environmental conditions, so that the discomfort to the animals can be minimised.

This work is funded by Meat and Livestock Australia, and the Australian Sheep Industry CRC.