LECTURE #1

BODY TEMPERATURE
Farm animals maintain a relatively constant body core temperature (homeothermy) during
extreme ranges of thermal environments. This homeothermic state is achieved by physiologic
and behavioral mechanisms that modify either rates of heat loss from the body or the rate at
which heat is produced by the metabolism of feed or body energy reserves. For the body
temperature to remain constant in changing thermal environments, the rate of heat loss must
equal the rate of heat gain. The body temperature is a reflection of the balance between heat gain
from the environment (radiation, conduction, and convection) or caused by metabolic activity
(maintenance, exercise, growth, lactation, gestation, and feeding) and heat loss to the
environment (radiation, conduction, convection, and evaporation) or caused by metabolic
activity (milk removal, fecal elimination, and urinary elimination). Absorption of heat from the
environment occurs when the external temperature rises above that of the body.
HEAT PRODUCTION
Heat production occurs as a result of metabolic activity and the digestion of feed, muscular
movement, and the maintenance of muscle tone. Shivering thermogenesis is a response to sudden
exposure to cold and is a major contributor to enhanced heat production. Non-shivering
thermogenesis is also induced by exposure to cold and is the mechanism by which heat is
produced by the calorigenic effect of epinephrine and norepinephrine. In the neonate, heat is
produced by the metabolism of brown adipose tissue, which is present in newborn farm animals
and is a particularly important mechanism of heat production to prevent neonatal hypothermia.
HEAT LOSS
Heat is transferred to or from an animal by the four standard physical phenomena of convection,
conduction, radiation, and evaporation. Convection is a transfer of heat between two media at
different temperatures such as the coat surface and the air. As such, convective heat transfer
depends on the temperature gradient between the coat surface and air, the surface area, and the
air speed over the surface. Conduction is the transfer of heat between two media that are in direct
contact such as the skin and water. Radiation is the absorption or emission of electromagnetic
radiation at the body surface and depends on the skin surface temperature and area. Evaporative
heat transfer is a process by which heat is lost by the evaporation of water and is dependent on
the water vapor pressure
gradient between the epithelial surface and the environment and the air speed over the surface.
Evaporation occurs by sweating, salivation, and respiration, with the relative importance of each
varying between species. Losses by evaporation of moisture vary between species depending on
the development of the sweat gland system and are less important in animals than in humans,
beginning only at relatively high body temperatures. Horses sweat profusely, but in pigs, sheep,
goats, New World camelids, and European cattle sweating cannot be considered to be an
effective mechanism of evaporative heat loss. In zebu cattle the increased density of cutaneous
sweat glands suggests that sweating may be more important. Profuse salivation and exaggerated
respiration, including mouth breathing, are important mechanisms in the dissipation of excess
body heat in animals. The tidal volume is decreased and the respiratory rate is increased at high
body temperatures so that heat is lost but alkalemia caused by respiratory alkalosis is avoided.
BALANCE BETWEEN HEAT LOSS AND GAIN
The balance between heat gain and heat loss is controlled by the heat-regulating functions of the
hypothalamus. The afferent impulses derive from peripheral hot and cold receptors and the
temperature of the blood flowing through the hypothalamus. The efferent impulses control
respiratory center activity, the caliber of skin blood vessels, sweat gland activity, and muscle
tone. Heat storage occurs and the body temperature rises when there is a decrease in rate and
depth of respiration, constriction of skin blood vessels, cessation of perspiration, and increased
muscle tone. Heat loss occurs when these functions are reversed. These physiologic changes
occur in, and are the basis of, the increment and decrement stages of fever.
BREED DIFFERENCES
Differences exist between breeds and races of cattle in coat and skin characters that affect heat
absorption from solar radiation and heat loss by evaporative cooling; differences also exist in the
metabolic rate, which influences the basic heat load. Interest in this subject has been aroused by
the demands for classes of animal capable of high production in the developing countries of the
tropical zone. Detailed information on the physiologic effects of, and the mechanisms of
adaptation to, high environmental temperatures are therefore available elsewhere but are not
dealt with in this book because they appear to be minimally related to the development of clinical
illness. Hypothermia, caused by exposure to low environmental temperatures, and hyperthermia
(heat stroke or heat exhaustion), caused by exposure to high environmental temperatures, are the
major abnormalities of body temperature associated with extremes of environmental
temperatures. Anhidrosis, occurring primarily in horses in hot humid climates and associated
with the inability to sweat