Abstract :
As a species traditionally managed extensively, at least for some of the year, sheep have
received relatively little attention from a welfare perspective. Although extensively managed
animals have greater behavioural freedom than those managed intensively, they are
still vulnerable to other welfare challenges. Welfare can be considered from the perspective
of the animals biological functioning, the naturalness of the way in which they are
kept, or their feelings (negative or positive). These different domains can be integrated by
considering the animal (and the adaptations it possesses) and the environment (made up
of the challenges the animal experiences). In this schema, the extensively managed animal
may experience poor welfare if the environmental challenges overwhelm its evolved
coping strategies (for example, in high temperatures if behavioural and physiological adaptations
cannot dissipate heat sufficiently) or if it has adaptations (such as behavioural
anti-predator responses) that are no longer required. To assess welfare of sheep, therefore,
we need to know when the animal may begin to suffer if its adaptations do not meet
the challenges presented by the environment or when the cost of meeting those challenges
is too great. In addition, the adaptations the sheep possess will affect how well it
copes, e.g. breed differences in maternal behaviour and responses to predators will influence
lamb survival and predation risk in extensive environments, respectively. How well
the extensive environment can meet the behavioural needs of sheep has never been tested.
However, consideration of the behaviour and habitat of wild sheep suggests that some preferred
environmental features, such as escape terrain or specific birth sites, may not be
present in farmed environments. How this affects sheep welfare is still to be determined.
Sheep welfare is also affected by the quality of the stockperson caring for them. Interactions
with people for extensively managed sheep are infrequent, but nearly always aversive, and
whether the nature of interactions can be affected by stockperson attitude and behaviour,
as seen in intensively managed species, remains to be seen. There is evidence, however,
that farmers may under-estimate the negative impact that themselves and their sheepdogs
can have on their sheep. Farmer attitude can also affect management decisions which
may have an indirect impact on the welfare of their sheep. For example, farmer attitudes
towards lameness are related to treatment decisions. The extensive environment thus provides
particular challenges to welfare that differ markedly from those in intensive systems,
and still need further investigation
