Shelter and welfare of pastoral animals in New Zealand

Abstract

Thermal stress occurs when animals are unable to use their normal behavioural and physiological mechanisms to maintain constant body temperature. Under cold conditions, providing shelter can increase survival and improve growth and reproduction. Similarly growth, production and reproduction can be enhanced, and disease minimised by providing shelter during hot conditions. Such measures have implications for animal welfare but do not tell what shelter it is reasonable and necessary to provide. Traditional approaches to animal welfare suggest that the benefits of providing shelter should outweigh the costs, that animals need an environment in which they can choose to modify their behaviour, or that good stockmanship would demand that animals have access to shelter. It is recommended that pastorally farmed animals should be of a suitable type, be acclimatised, and be provided with an environment that allows them to adjust to varying thermal conditions. If survival is compromised by adverse weather, then shelter must be provided, or must be able to be provided in a timely and effective manner. When environmental conditions are more benign, animals should have the opportunity to respond behaviourally (e.g., seek shade) to minimise thermal stress. © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.