Results: Urine and vegetation composition
The first urine collection trial took place from 23rd May 2016 to 1st of June 2016. Six Welsh Mountain ewes were housed in urine collection pens, where a total of 56 individual urination events were recorded. Both the individual volumes and the number of urine events per sheep were very variable, recorded volumes ranged from as small as 30 ml to as high as 770 ml, with a mean volume of 187 ml (Fig. 1). Across the whole urine collection period the total number of recorded urination events per animal were also very variable with the only one urine event captured from one individual sheep and 25 urine events recorded from another sheep (Fig. 2). The mean pH across all urine samples was 7.67 and the mean electrical conductivity was 11.7 mS cm-1. Check the results section again soon for further analysis of the urine chemical composition.
Fig. 1 Distribution of urine volumes collected from 6 Welsh Mountain ewes.
Fig. 2 Total number of urine events collected per sheep during the urine collection trial.