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Body heat storage in steers (Bos taurus) in fluctuating thermal environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. A. McLean ,
D. P. Stombaugh ,
A. J. Downie  and
C. A. Glasbey
J. A. McLean
Affiliation:
Hannah Research Institute, Ayr, Scotland
D. P. Stombaugh
Affiliation:
Hannah Research Institute, Ayr, Scotland
A. J. Downie
Affiliation:
Hannah Research Institute, Ayr, Scotland
C. A. Glasbey
Affiliation:
A.R.C. Unit of Statistics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
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Summary

Heat stored in the body of cattle subjected to a daily 10 CC range of environmental temperature was measured by calorimetry and thermometry. The daily range of bodycore temperature of the animals was of the order of 0·5 °C but mean skin temperature cycled with a range of approximately 6 °C. Calorimetric estimates of changes in mean body temperature showed good agreement with thermometric estimates when core and mean body temperature changes were weighted in the ratio a: (1 – α) where α was found to be 0·85. This result is consistent with the findings of another study where cattle were subjected to abrupt changes in environmental temperature, the combined best estimate of a from the two studies being 0·86 ± 0·014 (s.E.). The 10 °C range of daily environmental fluctuation resulted in a daily variation of approximately 1 °C in mean body temperature, which is equivalent to the amount of heat produced by the animals every 40 min. It is suggested that a weighting factor α = 0·86 could be employed, using thermometry only, to estimate fluctuations in body heat storage which are likely to occur in animals subjected to fluctuating environmental conditions in the field.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 100 , Issue 2 , April 1983 , pp. 315 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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