Agroforestry systems that integrate trees with livestock farming provide shade, shelter, browse and environmental enrichment that benefit animal welfare while delivering agronomic and environmental co-benefits.
Agroforestry represents one of the clearest cases where environmental and welfare goals are aligned. Trees provide shade that reduces heat stress welfare impact on livestock in warm climates and warm periods; shelter that reduces cold stress in winter; browse that provides foraging enrichment and nutritional diversity; and visual complexity that reduces boredom in extensively kept livestock. These welfare benefits are delivered alongside carbon sequestration, biodiversity enhancement and soil health improvement. Welfare-conscious farm planning that integrates trees is simultaneously good for animals, land and climate.