There is currently an ongoing discussion in Sweden about the need for weather shelter for farm animals being kept outdoors during the winter season. Currently, the national animal welfare legislation requires weather shelter providing the animals? with access to a dry and clean place to rest, but under certain conditions exemptions can be granted. The Swedish Board of Agriculture has put forward a hypothesis that there is a difference between judicial decisions in animal welfare cases dealing with weather shelters, as to whether the animal has shown to be suffering or not. The aim of the study was to highlight any weaknesses or difficulties when assessing animal welfare issues associated to the absence of or design of weather shelters.

SUMMARY This pilot study tried to answer the question however the present animal welfare regulations for horses regarding lying hall area requirements are adequate for horses older than 24 months. The study was carried out at one of the largest stud farms for standard bred horses in Sweden. Mares in late pregnancy with an initial mean age of 10 years was used in a behaviour study. The influence of varying space per animal in a loose-housing system on behaviours like the horses' lying hall use, standing, resting, moving behaviour and threats was studied. The behaviour at three different horse densities ? 18 mares, 13 mares and 8 mares (7.4 m2, 10.3 m2 and 16.7 m2 per mare, respectively) ? was recorded by use of video.

Today, individual indoor stalls and individual outdoor paddocks are the most common way to house horses in Sweden. The way that we manage, house and feed the horses are not optimal for the species natural basic behavioural needs. However, the awareness of this grows in the context of research and the emergence of alternative housing systems. One of the alternatives to the traditional format in individual boxes is called group housing. Group housing systems allow horses to live in herds and they can choose how they want to distribute the hours of the day between movement, resting and foraging. The purpose of this study is to examine how frequently the young horses in a group housing system use the indoor lying area.

Syftet med detta arbete är att få fram kunskap om vad som krävs vid en omläggning till utedrift inom Sveriges Nötköttsproducenter och Svenska Djurhälsovårdens kontrollprogram ?Utegångsdjur utan Ligghall, nötkreatur?. Det har även undersökts om detta kan vara ett ekonomiskt försvarbart alternativ för gårdar som är intresserade. En fallstudie har gjorts på en gård på mellersta Gotland kring om en omläggning till utedrift i kontrollprogrammet är möjlig och om det är mer ekonomiskt lönsamt än dagens produktion. Vid en omläggning görs även en utökning till ca 200 kor för att optimera användningen av de stallar som blir tillgängliga. Genom att sammanställa dagens produktion och effekterna efter en omläggning i varsin driftsplan så har de ekonomiska resultaten sammanfattats. En enkät skickades ut under våren 2013 till de 21 gårdar som är anslutna till kontrollprogrammet.

Beteendestudier, där man vill undersöka position eller läge hos individer, kan utföras på olika sätt. Videofilmning, direkta observationer och GPS, (Global Positioning System) är exempel på olika metoder för att utföra dessa studier. Det har sedan en längre tid tillbaka varit vanligt att man utför direkta observationer, vilka kan vara tidskrävande. Genom att utföra studier med hjälp av GPS-mottagare kan tiden för studien förkortas. GPS har används i tidigare studier med hästar.

If you keep cattle in a herd outside all year round on big varying grounds, their possibilityto perform their natural behaviour increases. This way of keeping cattle requires that youprovide them with their other needs, like shelter and a dry and clean resting place.According to the animal welfare authority´s regulations on livestock farming, only animalsthat are suited to stay outside during the cold season are allowed to be kept outside. Theyshould also have access to a shelter or another building that gives them protection from theweather and wind and provides a dry and clean resting place.Research has shown that as long as cattle do not get exposed to precipitation and wind theywill manage low temperature well. Some of the things that will affect how well the animalshandle different climates are the isolation ability of the fur, the animals´ body size and thefeed intake. A dry lying place that is both insulating and moisture absorbent is also of greatimportance.