Effects of three different floor types on the posture behavior of semi-intensively reared dairy ewes of the Boutsiko breed

dc.contributor.author	Panagakis, P	en
dc.contributor.author	Deligeorgis, S	en
dc.contributor.author	Zervas, G	en
dc.contributor.author	Laliotis, G	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-06-06T06:45:58Z
dc.date.available	2014-06-06T06:45:58Z
dc.date.issued	2004	en
dc.identifier.issn	09214488	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2003.08.021	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://62.217.125.90/xmlui/handle/123456789/2740
dc.subject	Flooring	en
dc.subject	Posture behavior	en
dc.subject	Sheep housing	en
dc.subject	Surface moisture	en
dc.subject.other	Ovis	en
dc.subject.other	Ovis aries	en
dc.title	Effects of three different floor types on the posture behavior of semi-intensively reared dairy ewes of the Boutsiko breed	en
heal.type	journalArticle	en
heal.identifier.primary	10.1016/j.smallrumres.2003.08.021	en
heal.publicationDate	2004	en
heal.abstract	Semi-intensively reared dairy ewes of the Boutsiko breed (n=45) were equally allocated to three experimental pens when housed indoors (16:00-09:00 h) from late December to early April. Each pen had a different type of floor, namely rammed soil, two-layer soil filter and three-layer soil filter. Floor surface moisture was measured and the resulting sheep posture behavior (i.e. standing or lying) was studied. A 10 h daily cycle (02:00-07:00, 16:00-21:00 h) was used so as to determine sheep postural behavior during two 8-day observation periods for each pen. Rammed soil surface moisture was 3.1 times higher (P<0.01) than that of the two or three-layer soil filters, which were similar for surface moisture (i.e. 34% vs. 11%, respectively). Overall, this difference had no effect on standing or lying behavior of sheep. However, it did result in more sheep choosing to lie laterally recumbent on rammed soil in an attempt to reduce heat losses to ground due to conduction. Standing and lying increased toward sunrise and sunset, respectively. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.	en
heal.journalName	Small Ruminant Research	en
dc.identifier.issue	1-2	en
dc.identifier.volume	53	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.smallrumres.2003.08.021	en
dc.identifier.spage	111	en
dc.identifier.epage	115	en