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Skin Temperatures of the Pig, Goat, and Sheep Under Winter Conditions

One Figure

Nutrition Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Boston, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, Durham

Skin temperature measurements were made on two sheep, a pig, and a goat at environmental temperatures between –12° and +21°C. Duplicate measurements on the same spot on the body usually agreed within 1°C. Equilibrium in skin temperature after change to a different environmental temperature was quickly established with the goat but more slowly with the sow. The ewe, the ram, and the goat maintained their skin temperatures near 30°, even when the environmental temperatures were at the freezing point or below. The skin temperature of the sheep was warmer than that of the goat or the pig under all conditions, the goat's temperature being slightly lower and the pig's appreciably lower. The average skin temperatures on the trunk were as follows:

The protective coats of the sheep and the goat enabled them to maintain their skin temperatures within relatively narrow ranges despite large differences in environment, but the poorer external protection of the pig did not enable such uniformity.

Comparison is made between these skin temperature measurements and metabolism measurements previously made on similar animal species over a wide range in environmental temperatures.