3 essential types of shelter

We can put on a jacket or a sunhat, turn on the air-con or add another log on the fire. But all your stock can do is move in or out of shelter. That’s why it’s important to make sure each paddock has some.

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We have air-con but livestock need something more permanent (and fruitful)

Try sitting in your paddock on a cold and wet night without putting on a coat. Not pleasant. Remember those blistering, humid 30°C+ days last summer? It’s not fun out in that sun for long either.

But these are the extremes your stock are forced to endure. Animals can’t dress according to the weather. They just have to withstand the heat, rain and wind as best they can.

Before man confined them to small squares with fences, livestock would seek the shelter of forests when conditions were adverse, stand on hill tops to catch the breeze in the heat, and huddle together in herds for extra warmth.

Confining animals to exposed paddocks is forcing them to endure all the extremes of weather and it’s not just unpleasant. It affects their health and productivity. As we start to feel the effects of climate change and experience more extremes of weather, it is just downright cruel.

Shelter, whether grown or built, is essential. Here are several ways you can achieve it.