Effects of sheepcot shade on behavior and physiological indexes of Chinese little fat-tailed sheep in housing system during summer

Sheepcot shade was adopted on an intensive sheep farm in Inner Mongolia in order to improve thermal environment of sheepcot and reduce the detrimental impact of heat stress on Chinese little fat-tailed sheep by solar radiation during summer 2004. Thermal environment, behavior and physiological indexes of Chinese little fat-tailed sheep were measured in shaded (experimental group) and non-shaded (control group) sheepcot respectively. The results show that provision of shade could minimize the adverse effects of high solar radiation on thermal balance and behavior. Ambient temperature, solar radiation and floor temperature were significantly less in shaded than in non-shaded sheepcot. The percentage of sheep and the period of time that sheep spent in shade all increased with environmental temperature-hunidity index. Sheepcot shade can relax the physiological stress of Chinese little fat-tailed sheep, and provision of shade could help Chinese little fat-tailed sheep to keep the physiological indexes within the normal ranges during high temperature.