Effect of barn roof design on general physiological changes, animal welfare behavior and growth performance of thai native cattle in rural conditions in Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand

Abstract

Background and Objective: If cattle barns are not suitable for animals as they do not provide a comfortable environment and heat stress can affect animal growth. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of different barn roof designs on the general physiological, welfare and growth performance parameters of Thai native cattle (TNC). Methodology: Data for this research were randomly obtained from intra class sampling of 90 farmers who raised TNC in Sakon Nakhon Province and underwent random-cluster sampling in which the farmers were divided into three groups, each with 30 farmers: Group 1, farmers who raised cattle using a free-range system and a barn with no roof, group 2, farmers who raised cattle in barns with a single-tiered roof and group 3, farmers who raised cattle in barns with a two-tiered roof. All data were used for analysis of variance. Results: The results of the experiment showed that the ambient environment caused a mean temperature-humidity index (THI) of 86.64±4.86. The THIs for group 1 and 2 were significantly higher (p<0.01) than those for group 3 (80.28±5.04, 78.76±4.82 and 76.14±2.54, respectively). The ambient environment did not affect hematological values (p>0.05) but did significantly affect general physiological factors (p<0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded from these results that a two-tiered barn roof design could reduce the THI from 80 to 76, which would improve conditions for raising cattle. A two-tiered roof could also reduce heat stress in cattle as indicated by the measured physiological factors.