The Effect of Environment and Husbandry Practices on Sheep Welfare
Małgorzata Bąkowska, Renata Pilarczyk, Marta Juszczak-Czasnojć, Beata Seremak, Agnieszka Tomza-Marciniak, Ewa Kwita, Lidia Felska-Błaszczyk, Bogumiła Pilarczyk

TL;DR
This paper explores how different sheep-rearing systems affect their welfare, considering factors like environment, diet, and social interaction.
Contribution
The study systematically compares extensive and intensive rearing systems and identifies husbandry practices that can improve sheep welfare in both.
Findings
Extensive systems support natural behavior but pose risks like nutritional deficiencies and environmental stress.
Intensive systems allow better health control but may harm psychological welfare due to limited space and stimuli.
Welfare can be improved in both systems through appropriate husbandry practices tailored to sheep needs.
Abstract
Animal welfare has always played a key role in maintaining the physical and mental comfort of animals in their living environment; however, recent years have seen increasing attention paid to their welfare and living conditions. The article examines the effects of extensive and intensive rearing systems on the welfare of sheep, which is influenced by, inter alia, environmental conditions, diet, social interaction and human contact. The extensive system, based on grazing, favours the natural behaviour of the animals, but carries the risk of exposure to environmental factors and nutritional deficiencies. In contrast, the intensive system allows better control of health and production, but can have a negative impact on psychological welfare by limiting space and environmental stimuli. Nevertheless, measures can be implemented to mitigate these effects in both systems: welfare does not…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAnimal Behavior and Welfare Studies · Reproductive Physiology in Livestock · Effects of Environmental Stressors on Livestock
