Sheep Nutrition and Welfare: Evidence-Based Guide

Key Welfare Considerations

• Nutritional deficiencies are among the most common causes of preventable welfare problems in sheep.
• Body condition scoring (BCS) is the primary tool for assessing nutritional welfare status in sheep.
• Target BCS at tupping is 3.0-3.5 for most breeds to optimise conception rates and lamb welfare.
• Energy deficiency in late pregnancy causes pregnancy toxaemia, a serious welfare emergency.
• Protein deficiency reduces fleece quality, growth rates, and immune competence in ewes and lambs.
• Trace element deficiencies — particularly copper, selenium, iodine, and cobalt — cause significant welfare issues.
• Copper deficiency causes enzootic ataxia (swayback) in lambs, a preventable neurological condition.
• Selenium deficiency leads to white muscle disease, causing painful muscular degeneration in lambs.
• Iodine deficiency causes goitre in newborn lambs and reproductive failure in ewes.
• Cobalt deficiency reduces vitamin B12 synthesis, causing pine disease and wasting in lambs.
• Over-supplementation with fat-soluble minerals can cause toxicity — copper toxicosis is a significant welfare risk.
• Forage quality assessments guide strategic supplementation to prevent deficiency and toxicity.
• Feeding space requirements must ensure all sheep can access feed simultaneously to prevent competition stress.
• Water access is critical — ewes in late pregnancy require 5-8 litres of clean water daily.
• Nutritional management plans tailored to production stage significantly improve flock welfare outcomes.