Australian cattle feedlot working horses: a series of novel studies of welfare under field work conditions

The studies in this thesis focus on Australian cattle feedlot working horses; horses who work and perform specific roles in a cattle feedlot. These horses work long hours often under extreme conditions (e.g. weather, ground substrate, distance travelled) and are seen as a vital part of the workforce. For the purpose of the following thesis horses at work will be referred to as working and horses not at work will be referred to as not working, this is because this indicates the role the horse is currently performing, and they do not meet the conventional definition of non-working which would normally be applied to individuals who do not spend any of their time working. The study reported in Chapter 2 was designed to ascertain via an online survey what the Australian animal and equine community knows, thinks, and understands about this cohort of horses/the work they perform and animal welfare in general. The survey comprised a mixture of Likert scale questions consisting of 6 options, multiple choice responses and open-ended responses and was completed by a total of 440 participants. The majority of participants were involved in the equine industry and considered animal welfare to be at a minimum important, (χ2 = 20.1, df= 5, P = 0.001); where animal well-being was extremely important (χ2 = 10.59, df= 4, P = 0.032). Whilst 354 participants considered animal agency important or very important (χ2 =10.6, df= 5, P = 0.06). Not only was welfare often rated as important participants also strongly agreed that cattle welfare has the potential to be improved by the use of horses on feedlots (χ2 = 6.17, df = 2, P = 0.046). This research is timely as globally and in Australia there is an increased focus on animal use and social licence to operate. The study reported in Chapter 3 is a case study which gathered species-specific baseline information about this working equine cohort (Australian cattle feedlot working horses) using the Five Domains Model framework in a practical application under field conditions. These horses are understudied, therefore there is a lack of knowledge about their working and not working lives and the circumstances afforded to them under both conditions. The horses in this study did not have poor welfare and when not working were allowed to exhibit many natural behaviours and had significant opportunities to demonstrate agency whilst paddocked as a herd. At work the horses had restricted opportunities to demonstrate agency and did exhibit some conflict behaviours. Additionally, horses were also at risk of tack-based injuries when working. Lastly, Chapter 4 reported on the different physiological stress responses to working and not working for not only cattle feedlot horses but other working horses in Australia; university teaching/research horses and riding school/therapy horses using infrared thermography (IRT) for eye temperature and salivary cortisol. Salivary cortisol concentration may be a useful field measure if the horse undergoes a high intensity workload due to the fact cortisol may be affected by multiple environmental and individual animal factors other than stress. However, eye temperature is unlikely to be a valid field-based measure due to the samples being heavily influenced by solar radiation. This study aligns with the objectives of this thesis, focused on cattle feedlot horses but was a late addition which was necessitated due to samples going missing from a secure laboratory. Therefore, a new study needed to be designed and completed in a tight timeframe, with these events being outside the researcher’s and supervisor’s control. All of the chapters in combination for this thesis sought to gather detailed information about Australian cattle feedlot working horses encapsulating public knowledge about these horses and field data regarding their working and not working lives.