Evaluation of Animal-Based Indicators to Be Used in a Welfare Assessment Protocol for Sheep.

ABSTRACT: Sheep are managed under a variety of different environments (continually outdoors, partially outdoors with seasonal or diurnal variation, continuously indoors) and for different purposes, which makes assessing welfare challenging. This diversity means that resource-based indicators are not particularly useful and, thus, a welfare assessment scheme for sheep, focusing on animal-based indicators, was developed. We focus specifically on ewes, as the most numerous group of sheep present on farm, although many of the indicators may also have relevance to adult male sheep. Using the Welfare Quality® framework of four Principles and 12 Criteria, we considered the validity, reliability, and feasibility of 46 putative animal-based indicators derived from the literature for these criteria. Where ani

SUBMITTER: Richmond SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5732139 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature