Sheep are farmed extensively across the world on hill, upland, and lowland grassland systems. While extensive systems offer many welfare advantages, specific challenges including parasite burden and lameness require active management.
Sheep welfare in extensive systems benefits from the natural behaviors these systems enable: grazing, social interaction, and movement. However, monitoring welfare across large areas with large fllock numbers is challenging, and health problems including lameness and parasitism frequently go undetected for extended periods. The Five Point Plan for lameness control, developed by the Farm Animal Welfare Council, has significantly improved lameness identification and treatment rates in UK sheep flocks. Targeted selective treatment for parasites rather than blanket preventive treatment reduces anthelmintic resistance development while maintaining welfare through appropriate treatment of affected individuals. Stockperson training in sheep behavioral indicators of pain and illness is the foundation of effective extensive sheep welfare management.