The welfare of livestock exhibited in heat-wave conditions at this year’s Royal Welsh Show was given a boost by a £15,000 project to improve ventilation for livestock. This included £6,000 for 16 extra fans installed in two buildings just before the show, for sheep and dairy cows, by Perthshire-based A Proctor Group Ltd.
This certainly paid off. Despite the heat-wave conditions with temperatures soaring to 29°C (84°F), there were no problems for animals on the showground, according to show director Harry Fetherstonhaugh, who said that animal welfare was taken extremely seriously.
Tim Miller, environmental specialist with Perthshire-based A Proctor Group Ltd, was first called in to advise on ventilation of the buildings for the livestock classes six years ago and regular improvements to the dairy, beef, sheep and pig accommodation have been made since then.
“Creating air movement is crucial even in large open buildings,” he said. “It can be hard to site the fans because they must not be in the way when the sheds are used for other events. However, it was a very hot show and the added ventilation certainly made a difference to the buildings.”
The Royal Welsh Show has attracted over 200,000 visitors each year since 1989 and this year there was a record attendance of over 241,781 people, including 960 visitors from 40 different countries.
There were more than 7,000 entries for this year’s show, the 50th at the permanent LLanelwedd site, with 45 breeds of sheep — the largest display of its kind — being a major attraction.
