Sheep mineral requirements must be met without exceeding safe limits, as both deficiency and excess cause significant welfare problems in this species.
Mineral imbalances in sheep cause significant welfare impacts at both extremes. Deficiency diseases - white muscle disease causing inability to stand, pine causing progressive wasting - cause chronic suffering in affected lambs. But over-supplementation, particularly with copper, causes fatal hemolytic crisis. The welfare obligation is to assess actual mineral status through appropriate testing before supplementing, then provide targeted supplementation at appropriate doses. Blanket supplementation without assessment risks toxicity; no supplementation despite deficiency risk causes preventable disease.