Validating indicators of sheep welfare through a consensus of expert opinion

Abstract

A consensus of expert opinion was used to provide both face and consensual validity to a list of potential indicators of sheep welfare. This approach was used as a first step in the identification of valid welfare indicators for sheep. The consensus methodology of the National Institute of Health, using pre-meeting consultation and focus group discussions, was used to ascertain the consensus opinion of a panel of sheep welfare experts. The Farm Animal Welfare Council's five freedoms were used as a framework to organise a list of current on-farm welfare issues for sheep. The five freedoms were also the welfare criterion used to identify potential on-farm welfare indicators for sheep. As a result, experts identified 193 welfare issues for sheep and lambs managed on farms across England and Wales. Subsequently, a combination of animal-(n 5 26), resource-(n 5 13) and management-(n 5 22) based indicators was suggested for (i) adult rams, (ii) adult ewes (male and female sheep, over 1 year old), (iii) growing lambs (male and female sheep, over 6 weeks to 1 year old) and (iv) young lambs (male and female lambs, 6 weeks old and under). The results from this study could therefore be used to inform the further development of valid methods of assessing the on-farm welfare of sheep.

Inter-observer agreement, diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of animal-based indicators of young lamb welfare

“…Since before their participation in this study not all observers were familiar with the assessment of eye conditions, the high level of diagnostic performance may reflect both the clear scoring scales used, and the ease of identifying lambs with ocular discharges and lesions. The presence of entropion was considered to be a particular on-farm welfare issue for young lambs by an expert panel in Great Britain (Phythian et al, 2011a) and Scandinavia (Ulvund, 2012). This was supported by the study results that identified over 6% of the study population had an ocular abnormality; most frequently diagnosed as entropion.…”

“…This work has been previously described (Phythian et al, 2011a). Briefly, the experts selected animal-based welfare indicators that were considered to be sensitive to current on-farm welfare issues for lambs in Great Britain.…”

“…Lambs may be raised by their birth ewe or fostered or reared as 'orphan lambs' on milk substitute, often with automated feeding systems. A range of welfare issues for lambs were recently identified by a UK sheep welfare expert panel (Phythian et al, 2011a) and included lamb mortality, starvation, hypothermia and the presence of infectious and inheritable diseases. Interestingly, in a recent report of sheep flock health issues in Scandinavia, a similar range of welfare concerns for lambs were cited (Ulvund, 2012).…”

“…The specific aspect of lamb welfare that was evaluated by each indicator outcome, that is the content validity of each measure, was previously established by a sheep welfare expert panel (Phythian et al, 2011a). The study described here examines their reliability, sensitivity and specificity, and feasibility.…”

Evaluating mountain goat dairy systems for conversion to the organic model, using a multicriteria method

“…Previous studies report those indicators that have been used to analyse farm sustainability (Coffey et al, 2004;Nahed et al, 2006;Galá n et al 2007;Peacock and Sherman, 2010); animal welfare (Napolitano et al, 2009;Phythian et al, 2011), environmental effects, animal welfare and milk quality of organic farms (Mü ller-Lindenlauf et al, 2010), and differences, in general, between organic and conventional farms (Nauta et al, 2006;Rozzi et al, 2007). Other studies evaluate the technical and economic performance of organic farming ).…”