Only a minority of sheep in our country can cool down on hot days. A sample from action group Wakker Dier shows that almost three quarters of the sheep do not have access to shade. The organization visited 134 sheep pastures in North Holland with a total of about 5,000 sheep.
The sample took place on July 31, when a maximum of 32 degrees was measured in De Bilt. Sheep suffer from heat stress from a temperature of 23 degrees. They gasp, become slow and try to find the shadow.
“Leaving sheep in full sun at 30 degrees is irresponsible. It means heat stress and torture for the animals,” said spokesperson Anne Hilhorst. According to the organization, provision was made for shade, especially in pastures with fewer than ten sheep, and less often if there were larger numbers of sheep.
According to Wakker Dier, the sample examined approximately 4 percent of all sheep in the Netherlands. After Friesland, North Holland is the province with the most sheep. Hilhorst: “Of course the conditions in other provinces differ, but we fear the worst.”
Heat plan 2.0
The animal welfare organization cites placing carts or planting trees as solutions to provide more shade in pastures. Creating sufficient shade is part of the National Heat Plan for Animals, for which the organization in The Hague lobbies for.
Livestock farmers themselves are working on a ‘Heat Plan 2.0’. Temperature and humidity are combined therein to form the so-called Temperature Humidity Index (THI), a value that indicates how much heat stress animals experience. If a critical value is achieved for certain animals, the farmer must follow a fixed set of advice in the future in order to provide the animals with cooling.
“Farmers, including sheep farmers, have a great interest in preventing heat stress in their animals,” said a spokesperson for the agricultural organization LTO. “We call on our members to anticipate heat like this.” LTO emphasizes that it cannot assess the reliability of Wakker Dier’s sample.
In recent days, livestock farmers have posted examples of how they keep their animals cool on Twitter, under the hashtag # geenhittestress.
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