Water Metabolism in the Sheep

Abstract

SOME sheep appear to pass consistently lower urine volumes than others, and during metabolism cage experiments with HK and LK ¹ Scottish Blackface sheep there was a suggestion that within each of these two groups there was much more variation between animals than between repeated observations on the same animal, and that, on the whole, urine volumes from LK animals tended to be lower than those from HK animals. The results of an analysis of the results from fifteen trials involving 19 LK and 17 HK animals are given below. Four or six animals were used per trial and equal numbers of LK and HK were used in all except three trials. The animals were in the cages for 10, 20, 32 or 93 days in each trial. A standard ration of hay and concentrates (oats and linseed meal) was fed throughout, and a sodium chloride supplement was given in all except three trials, but this did not have a marked effect on urine output.