Mineral deficiencies in sheep cause significant welfare harm including muscle disease, reproductive failure, and neurological problems. Prevention through nutrition and supplementation is welfare-critical.
Mineral deficiency diseases cause significant welfare harm that is almost entirely preventable through appropriate nutrition management. White muscle disease in lambs causes acute pain from muscle degeneration and death. Swayback produces irreversible neurological damage before birth from subclinical selenium-copper deficiency in the ewe. The preventability of these conditions makes their occurrence a welfare failure, not an inevitable production challenge. Soil and blood testing guides species-appropriate supplementation.