The Effect of Environment and Husbandry Practices on Sheep Welfare

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 depend solely on the type of system, but also on the type and quality of husbandry practices, which should take into account the ethological and physiological needs of the animals.

The amount of attention paid to the welfare of animals and their maintenance conditions has grown considerably in recent years. This paper examines the effects of extensive and intensive housing systems on the environmental, behavioural, health, nutritional and social aspects of sheep welfare. It presents the current state of knowledge regarding this welfare, and its significant contributing factors, based on a search of PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus using defined keywords. It compares the impact of the two systems on the physical, psychological and social comfort of the animals, and identifies husbandry practices conducive to improving welfare. In doing so, it pays particular attention to the role of social bonding and the importance of grooming interventions. The paper reviews the factors shaping welfare in different production systems, with a particular focus on extensive and intensive rearing. It demonstrates that while the extensive system is conducive to the realisation of natural behaviour and the formation of social bonds, it can also be associated with a higher risk of nutritional deficiencies and environmental stressors. In contrast, an intensive system allows better control of health and nutrition, but often limits the ability to meet behavioural needs. The study also discusses the importance of feeding strategies, herd structure and thermal comfort, as well as the impact of routines such as shearing and hoof correction. It demonstrates that high levels of welfare can be achieved in both extensive and intensive systems, provided that husbandry practices are appropriately adapted to the needs of sheep as a species.

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