Biology

• Farm dogs are essential components of farm productivity
• What information is lacking on farm dogs?

  • How many?
  • What types?
  • No information currently on energy or nutrient requirements
  • Not sure if farmers are getting optimum performance from their dogs
• Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) Export $$ (2016-17)


  • Meat Products - $5,985m - 12%
  • Dairy Products - $11,549m - 23%
  • Wool - $586m - 1.2%
  • Total Agriculture - $29,232m - 60%
  • Total - $48,720m
• The survey obtained information on farm size, dog breed & numbers, working & feeding patterns
• The survey concentrated on assessing whether working farm dogs are receiving adequate energy from their diet
• Diets Fed to Working Farm Dogs

  • 40% dry food & 40% homekill
  • Remainder canned food, dog roll or table scraps
  • No significant regional variations in feeding regimes
• Type of dog food

  • Dry (biscuit or kibble) - Overall Average 39.9%, During Peak work 39.7%, During Off-peak Periods 40.1%
  • Canned - Overall Average 2.9%, During Peak work 3.0%, During Off-peak Periods 2.8%
  • Dog roll - Overall Average 11.9%, During Peak work 11.6%, During Off-peak Periods 12.1%
  • Homekill meat - Overall Average 38.7%, During Peak work 39.5%, During Off-peak Periods 38.0%
  • Table scraps - Overall Average 6.6%, During Peak work 6.2%, During Off-peak Periods 7.0%
• The main brands of dog food bought by the farmers were: TUX Energy (82%), Pedigree Working Dog Formula (11%), TUX Country (4%), Champ Max (2%), Dog Chow (0.5%) and V8 (0.3%)
• The majority of farmers gave TUX dog food a ranking of either 3 (23 %), 4 (33 %) or 5 (34 %), (scale 1 = very poor to 5 = very good)
• 67% rated TUX as good or very good
• Conclusions from the Survey I

  • Very young population of working dogs, median of 3 years
  • High proportion of younger dogs similar to pet populations overseas
  • Higher population of Heading dogs
  • Skewed sex ratio similar to pet populations overseas with higher numbers of males
• Conclusions from the Survey II

  • The most common diet of a working farm dog was primarily homekill combined with dry food (TUX)
  • Amount fed to the dogs altered during the year (peak vs off-peak) rather than the composition of the diet
  • The majority of farmers reported that dry food was fed as a top-up to homekill
  • The majority of farmers replied nutrition, dog's acceptance and balanced diet was very important when choosing dog food
• Conclusions from the Survey III

  • Majority (82%) fed TUX
  • Farmers have generally positive views on TUX
• Working dog population


  • Very young median age of 3 years
  • High proportion of younger dogs similar to pet populations overseas
  • Higher population of Heading dogs
  • Skewed sex ratio with higher numbers of males (60-54% vs 53.8-50.4% in overseas studies)
• Common diet of working farm dogs

  • Primarily homekill combined with dry food (TUX)
  • Amount fed altered during the year (peak vs off-peak) rather than the composition of the diet
  • Majority of farmers fed dry food (TUX) as a top-up to homekill
• Nutrition, dog's acceptance and balanced diet


  Very important factors when choosing dog food for farmers
• Farmers' views on TUX

  • Majority (82%) fed TUX
  • Generally positive views
  • Would like a specially formulated working dog formula
  • Would like a higher calorie option
  • Would like life-stage formulations (such as puppy formulations)
• Digestibility trials


  • Important in establishing the nutrient requirements of an animal to ensure proper nutrition
  • Involves feeding an animal a diet, collecting faeces and analysing food and faeces
  • Establish the amount of nutrients an animal is absorbing and utilising from its food
• Digestibility trials are the "gold standard" for measuring energy expenditure, but are costly
• Doubly-Labelled Water (DLW) is used to measure energy expenditure in free-living animals
• DLW method


  1. Known amounts of DLW (18O & 2H) injected

  2. Energy expenditure measured by the rate of decline of the two isotopes (18O & 2H) over the experimental period

  3. 18O is lost in CO2 & H2O but the 2H is only lost in water

  4. The difference in disappearance of the two isotopes from blood is used to measure CO2 production during the period

  5. CO2 production is used to measure EE
• Advantage of the DLW method is that it allows animals to move freely with no housing constraints
• Heading dogs were 44% more active than Huntaways in this pilot study
• Kcal per activity count

  The amount of energy expenditure (in kcal) per activity count measured by the Actical® monitors
• Heading dogs had a higher Kcal per activity count (0.00032) compared to Huntaways (0.00022)