Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T18:46:44.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The use of natural shelter by hill sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 1962

Joan Munro
Joan Munro
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Edinburgh, 12
Get access

Extract

A small flock of 16 Blackface ewes occupying 40 acres of hill ground grazed as a fairly tight community. From observations over a complete year, 1960, it has been shown that sheltering behaviour was largely dependent on wind speed exceeding 24 m.p.h. Sheltering increased markedly at temperatures below freezing. Temperature above freezing, except for rapid falls in temperature exceeding 4° F., exerted little effect on sheltering. No relationship could be found between sheltering behaviour of the sheep and other factors which included rain, relative humidity, wind direction or season of the year.

It would appear therefore that the sensitivity of sheep to exposure is influenced more by wind speed than any other climatic factor.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , October 1962 , pp. 343 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1962

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Armstrong, D. G., Blaxter, K. L., Clapperton, J. L., Graham, N. MCC, & Wainman, F. W., 1960. Heat production and heat emission of two breeds of sheep. J. agric. Sci., 55: 395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, J. C. D., Bennett, J. W., & Wodzicka-Tomaszewska, M., 1960. Cold stress after shearing with a snow comb. Proc. Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod., 3: 199.Google Scholar
Munro, J., 1962. A study of the milk yield of three strains of Scottish Blackface ewes in two environments. Anim. Prod., A: 203.Google Scholar
Nichols, J. E., 1960. Shelter needs in relation to land use. Forestry, 33: 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, I. A., & Robertson, R. A., 1958. Some observations on the ecology of an upland grazing in North East Scotland with special reference to Callunetum. J. Ecol., 46: 239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar