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Extremity skin temperature in British and Zebu cross cattle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

K. G. Johnson  and
M. E. D. Webster
K. G. Johnson
Affiliation:
Environmental Research and Teaching Unit, Department of Physiology, University of New England, Armidale, N.S.W., Australia
M. E. D. Webster
Affiliation:
Environmental Research and Teaching Unit, Department of Physiology, University of New England, Armidale, N.S.W., Australia
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Extract

1. Extremity skin temperature changes in British and Zebu cross cattle examined in moderate thermal environments followed a thermoregulatory pattern similar to that describedby Whittow (1962). At low environmental temperatures, ear and lower leg skin temperatures were usually only slightly above air temperature. At a variable time after air temperatures began to rise or the animals were fed, extremity skin temperatures increased suddenly to near trunk skin temperature.

2. In eight of the ten pairs of animals studied in rising ambient temperatures and during feeding after fasting for 36–72 hr, increases in ear temperature were measured in the British animal before similar changes occurred in its Zebu counterpart. Changes in lower leg skin temperature followed a similar pattern.

Trunk skin temperatures and respiratory frequencies were significant higher in British cross animals than in Zebu cross animals of similar thermal history. The mean rectal temperature of both British and Zebu cattle was 38·5 °C.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , August 1967 , pp. 1 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

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