Features of the functional state of the organism of sheep under stress

The stresses that arise during routine animal husbandry procedures, such as milking, shearing, weighing, loading and hoof care, are an actual problem in animal husbandry. The components of economic damage under stress are a decrease in overall resistance and productivity, deterioration in product quality, an increase in labor costs and funds per unit of production, an increase in animal morbidity and mortality. The studies were carried out on the basis of ‘Belozernoe’ farm in the Salsky district, the Rostov region. A complex of clinical and laboratory studies was performed on 18 sheep (10 Romanov and 8 Tsigay breeds) aged 2 to 3 years, before and after a planned routine shearing. Stress in sheep caused by planned shearing was clinically manifested by general depression, in some cases, subfebrile fever, moderate tachypnea and tachycardia. It was shown that stress was accompanied by anemia, the development of erythropenia and leukopenia. Immunocompetent cells in the blood of experimental animals during stress development were analyzed. Severe lymphocytopenia was found to occur after a haircut. In addition, in the blood of experimental animals under stress, a tendency to a decrease in T-total cells was noted, which was accompanied by an increase in 0-cells, which was significant in sheep of the Tsigay breed (p<0.05). When analyzing the main immunoregulatory T cells in sheep under stress, a significant increase in T-suppressors was revealed with a relatively stable level of T-helpers in the blood studied. Thus, a significant (p<0.05) increase in the level of T-suppressors in sheep of Romanov and Tsigay breeds was recorded; it was by 1.15 and 1.19 times higher compared with the initial data. It should be noted that we did not find any significant differences between animals of Romanov and Tsigay breeds in stress development after shearing. The obtained data should be taken into account in the further search for methods of stress correction in sheep.