An investigation into the body temperature, respiration rate, pulse rate and skin temperature of dairy cows under New Zealand conditions, and a review of existing knowledge on animal climatology with particular reference to cattle : thesis submitted in part fulfilment of the degree M. Agric. Sci.

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"AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE BODY TEMPERATURE, RESPIRATION RATE, PULSE RATE AND SKIN T�MPEHATUHE OF DAIRY COWS

UND.!!:R .NEW ZEALAND CO.NDITIO.NS, AND ^{A HEV} !EW ^OF EX^IS^TING K.NO'i�Lb;DGE ON ANIMAL CLIMATOLOGY

WITH PARTICULAR RD'ERENCE '1'0 ^{CATTLE. "}

Thesis oubmitted in part fulfilment of the degree M. ^{Agric. Sci. ,} 1951.

'PV. /1. f?�.

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CONTENTS.

A. DISSER'l'AT ION.

I. INTRODUCT ION.

Objec t of t h i s s ec t io n .

• =-r"':::.

II. PHYSIOLOGICAL BAS IS AliD DEFINITIONS.

1. Body t empera t ure . 2. Heat prod uc t io n.

3. Heat tra nsp ort . 4. Heat emis sio n.

t�l ^{���Hm�g}

�

d Evap orat io n

Fac t ors i nfluenc i ng loss of heat by:

(a) C o nvec t io n a nd Cond uc t i o n (b) Radiatio n

( i i Temp erature ( i

l

^Area

( iii Emi ssivi ty (c ) Evap orat i o n

Phy s i olog ical co ntrol of Heat Emis s i o n Heat balance

5 . Regulat i o n of body t emperat ure . (a) S hort term adjustments

.Mecha nism of nerve recept ors Nervo us resp o nse t o c old (b ) Long range adjus tment s 6. E:ffec t

'a

�

^b _c

e d f

of External Heat a nd C o ld . Card i ovas cular sys t e m Al ime ntary sy stem Uri nary s ys t em Acid-base balance I<; ndoc rine sys t em E nergy metabolism

g Reproduc t i ve sys t em h Water bala nce

Thirst

Ac cl imi t izat i o n

Re s ul t s of di splaced t hermal e�u i l ibrium 7. Climat i c Fac t ors Affe c t i ng Heat Loss

��l ^{� � �}

ⁱ

^{� !�g �}

^{rat ure}

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c Air humidi t y

\d Air moveme nt

B. Mi scel laneous Fac t or s.

sweating

Ski n temperat ure

T ime se�uence o f adjustme nt t o cold T ime seque nce of adjustme nt to hea t

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CON'l'EN'l'S.

Page No.

III. REVIEW OF LITERATUP�.

1. Heat Produc t i on.

2 . E^ffect of Climate o n Body Temperat ure of Cat t le.

(_ba) Co nt roll ed experime nts.

( ) F i eld expe riments

3. Effec t of Cl imate o n Respira t i o n Rate of cat t le .

(^ba) Co nt rolled exper ime nt s .

( ) F ield experiment s

4 . Effe c t of Cl imate o n Pulse Rat es of cat t le .

(ba) Co nt rolled exper iment s .

( ) Field experiment s

5. Effe c t of Cl imat i c Element s o n t he Blood of cat t le.

(^ab) co ntrolled experime nts

( ) Field experiment s

6. Effec t of Cl ima t ic Eleme nt s o n Milk Pr oduc t i on a nd

49 5 6 57 59

69 72 69

78 79 81 83 83 84

Milk Compos it i on of Cat tle 85 Seasonal e ffe c t s

High a nd low t empe rature s .

7. Influe nce of Solar Radiat i o n o n Cat tle and t he

86 89

Influen ce of t he Ha iry Coa t 94 8 . The Ski n Temp era tur e of Cat tle a nd i t s Relat i o n t o

the Thermal E nviroane nt . 1 02 9. Vaporiza t i o n Loss t hr ough t he Ski n of Man.

10. Vaporiza tion Loss t hrough t he Ski n of Cat t le wa te r consump t i on

Swe a t glands and sweat i ng 11. Adaptab i li t y.

12. Limi tat i o ns of our Knowledge .

IV. TECHNIQUE§ OF MEASUREMENT.

106 112 107 113 124 127 133

1. Eody Temperature. 133

2 . _{Ski n} Te mpe rature . 134

3 . Measureme nt o f Ab sorp t io n and Reflec t i o n of

S olar Radia t i on. 139

4. Measurement of Respirat ory Rate 140

5. Measurement of Heart Ra te and Blood Pre ssure 142 6. Measureme nt of sweating and Evapora t ive Loss 143 7 . Met hods of Meas uri ng the Thermal Eleme nts of

Climate . 14 6

C_O^NTENT_S. B. EXPERIMENTAL.

I. INTRODUm'ION .

Objects of this Section.

I I ^• METHOD OF PROCEDURE.

l

abe�· Stock

Skin temperat ure apparatus Body temperature

Respi rat i o n rate

Pulse rate

lfg Gen eral procedure Diurnal Trial Skin t emperat ure

I I I. SOURCE AND TREATMENT OF THE DATA.

A. ^Preliminary Skin Temperat ure V/ ork.

B. Outs ide Measureme nt s .

c. Diurnal D^at_a.

D. _Skin Temperat ure Data .

IV. RE^SU^LTS.

A. Preliminary Ski n T emperat ure V/ork

Discussion

B. Out s i de

l

a Ski n t emperature Data.

b Rectal temperature

c _Resp_irat_ion rate d P ulse rate

I

e C omp o ne nt s of variance f I nt ra-class correlations g Correlat i o n analys i s

h Regress ion

i Partial Correlat i o n and multiple

c or relat i o n anal yses c. _Diurnal Data.

(al Fi rst Sec t i o n (b second sec t i o n

(c correlat i o n analysis D. Skin Temperature.

(^a) The influence _of hair

(b ) Position effe c t

E. ^Air

!

Temperat ure ^a

l

Ou t s ide meas ureme nt s _Data.

b ^Diurnal t r ial

c Skin temperat ure trial

•

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148

150 150 151 152 152 152 153 154

155 155 156 157

158 160 164 164 168 1 71 1 73 175 175 1 78 180 186 189 189 19 1 19 3 195 195 196 198 198 19 9 199

CONTENTS.

V . DISCUSSION OF RESULTS.

A.

B.

c.

D.

Preliminary Skin Temperature V/ork.

Discussion

Outside Measll!'ements.

!

^a

l

Skin temperature

b Rectal temperature c Respiration rate d Pulse rate

�I

Components of variance Intra-class Correlations

Correlation Analyses Regression Analyses

Partial correlation and multiple

correlation analyses Diurnal Trial.

l

^a

l

Body temperature

b Respiration rate c Pulse rates

d Correlation analysis Skin Temperature.

summary of Results.

VI. CONCLUSIONS.

REFERENCES.

APPENDIX.

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