Sheep Urination Metrics from Upland and Lowland Pastures in Wales

385ec5ab-0c47-46fc-b5df-008ca024296f contains urination metrics for Welsh Mountain ewes, including frequency, volume, and chemical composition. The data was collected in 2016 from sheep grazing semi-improved upland and lowland improved pastures in North Wales, UK, as part of the NERC-funded Uplands-N2O project.

Use Cases

• Model nitrogen loading rates from estimated urine patch N loading rates and urine volume data.
• Analyze seasonal variation in urine chemical composition across spring, summer, and autumn collection periods.
• Correlate metabolomics profile data with pasture type (upland vs. lowland) to assess environmental impacts.
• Estimate nitrous oxide emission potential using urine frequency and chemical composition metrics.

Strengths

• Data includes multiple urination metrics per event: frequency, volume, chemical composition, and metabolomics profile.
• Collection spans three seasons (spring, summer, autumn) in 2016 for comparative analysis.
• Covers two distinct pasture ecosystems: semi-improved upland and lowland improved sites.

Limitations

• Sample size (number of sheep or urine events) is not specified, limiting statistical power assessment.
• Data is from a single year (2016) and specific region (North Wales), reducing generalizability.
• Chemical composition and metabolomics data may require domain expertise for interpretation and preprocessing.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Sheep were housed in urine collection pens; each individual urine event was collected and stored separately for analysis.

Time Range

2016

Freshness

Last updated March 2026, though underlying data is from 2016.

Geography

North Wales, United Kingdom