Indoor winter housing for sheep has become more common in UK farming, presenting both welfare benefits from shelter and challenges from confinement and disease pressure.
Winter housing represents a welfare trade-off for sheep. Adequate shelter from severe winter weather prevents hypothermia, reduces body condition loss, and protects late-pregnant ewes. However, poorly designed or managed housing creates its own welfare problems. Inadequate ventilation allows ammonia accumulation that causes respiratory disease. Damp bedding promotes footrot and increases lameness. Insufficient space causes competition, overcrowding, and social stress. High-quality housing with adequate space, deep dry bedding, good ventilation, and separate accommodation for higher-risk groups including late-pregnant ewes and lambs significantly improves welfare outcomes compared to both outdoor exposure to severe winter weather and poorly managed housing.