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The Effect of Shearing on the Reaction of Lambs to High Environmental Temperature

Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station^,2

Abstract

Grade Southdown lambs were used in an experiment to determine the effect of shearing on the body temperature and respiration rate of lambs under summer conditions in Mississippi. Three groups of three lambs were used. One group was shorn while another was clipped only along the back. The third group was allowed to remain in the fleece and served as a control. Body temperature and respiration rate determinations were made twice daily on ten days during the month of July. The average atmospheric temperature at the morning determination was 90° F. and in the afternoon it was 96° F. The shorn lambs were found to have a significantly lower body temperature and respiration rate than the other two groups. There was not a significant difference in the reaction of the lambs in the fleece and those shorn only along the back. The greater efficiency of control of the body temperature exhibited by the shorn lambs suggests at least a partial explanation for the more satisfactory gains reported by certain workers.

¹ Present Address: Wilson & Co., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

² Dr. W. J. Drapala, Statistician, Mississippi Experiment Station kindly assisted with statistical analysis.