Determining Temperature and Humidity Thresholds in sheep exported from Australia to the Middle East

Summary

Annually, thousands of live sheep are exported from Australia to the Middle East (ME). Excessive heat load of sheep exported from the Australian winter to the ME summer (June-September) continues to be a health and welfare concern.  Large numbers of sheep are housed at the feedlots, especially at the times of high demand such as at Ramadan, Eid Al Fitr, and Eid Al Adha to ensure constancy of supply. When these religious festivals occur in summer, the sheep can be exposed to high environmental temperatures and humidity, with increased risk of losses due to heat stress.

There is ongoing work in this area that builds on the work undertaken in the earlier phases of previous heat research, and will compare and evaluate different shade structures and interventions, with a focus on identifying which option/s will significantly cool the sheep in hot and humid conditions.