Cold stress causes deaths of lambs and adults and influences production and health of sheep in Australia. Heat stress also results in lamb deaths, depressed feed utilisation and reproduction and increased disease susceptibility. Benefits from shade and shelter include improved survival and health, increased crop production, decreased land degradation, feed during drought and habitat for native fauna. Adoption is low and information on benefits at a farm or landscape scale is required to support extension.

Although early life social experiences affect the behavioural development of many mammals, dairy calves are removed from their mothers and reared without adult contact until they are full-grown. We found few effects of housing calves with non-maternal adults on their behaviour, although results suggested that calves reared at pasture follow natural diurnal behavioural patterns. Providing social enrichment in early life may have more effects in the long than short term for dairy calves, and this should be explored in future research.

Beef meat colour can be affected by electrical stimulation (ES) of carcasses, but how this relates to the microstructure and light-scattering properties of muscle is still unknown. The effect of electrical stimulation inputs on beef longissimus thoracis muscles (n = 16) was investigated. ES promoted both chromatic colour a*b* and achromatic (no colour) lightness changes in the muscle. Increased lightness and brightness were likely to be due to formation of contraction nodes and distortion of muscle fibres, which changed the microstructure, increasing the muscle light-scattering properties.

Raising systems is a critical non-genetic factor that can considerably affect poultry production. To date, there are still relatively few studies on the effects of raising systems on Gaoyou ducks. In this study, the cage rearing systems was beneficial to the growth performance of Gaoyou ducks, whereas floor rearing systems has advantages in carcass traits, meat quality and some serum biochemical parameters. Thus, the appropriate rearing system should be chosen based on production goals and different market requirements.

Negative consumer perceptions of animal welfare associated with high lamb mortality rates pose a threat to Australia’s sheep industry. Strategies to address lamb mortality include pregnancy scanning; however, current adoption rates by Australian producers are low. Key results related to producers’ beliefs towards lamb survival revealed that non-participation in extension programs is a significant barrier to the adoption of pregnancy scanning, and a strong case exists for continued investment in future extension tailored to different types of sheep enterprises.