Welfare of sheep and goats

A strong committment to animal welfare is essential to the productivity of a sheep and goat enterprise. It is also imporant from an ethical standpoint. On this page, welfare links are arranged alphabetically according to subject category: behavior, codes of practice, environmental enrichment, euthanasia, handling, pain, safety, slaughter, transportation, and welfare.

Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC)
Animal Welfare @ DAFF Australia
Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) | farm animals
Dr. Temple Grandin's web page

European Animal Welfare Platform | farm animal welfare
Farm Animal Assessment Associates (FAAA)
Farm animal welfare and behavior - Ontario, Canada
Gateway to Farm Animal Welfare - FAO United Nations
LivestockWelfare.com
States' Farm Animal Welfare Statutes - National AgLaw Center

Behavior

[PDF] Applied sheep behavior - University of Tennessee
Behavior - Extension Goat Handbook
Behavior - GoatWisdom
Behavior: Sheep 201
[PDF] Factors affecting livestock behavior and performance - BC, Canada
Goat behavior, characteristics, and FYI - Fias Co Farm
An introduction to sheep behavior - Illini SheepNet
Livestock behavior @ Colorado State University
Sheep behavior: Sheep 101
Understanding sheep - Ceres Farm
Use sheep behavior to your advantage - Ontario, Canada

Codes of practice

[PDF] Animal Welfare Approved Standards for sheep
Code of recommendations and minimum standards (New Zealand)
[PDF] Codes of recommendation for the welfare of sheep (Scotland)
[PDF] Goat Care Practices - UC Davis
Model code of practice for the welfare of animals: goats (Australia) | PDF
Model code of practice for the welfare of animals: sheep (Australia) | PDF
[PDF] Northern Ireland code of recomendations for the welfare of sheep
[PDF] Sheep Care Guide - American Sheep Industry Association
[PDF] Sheep codes of recommendations for the welfare... (UK)

Environmental enrichment

Comforable quarters for sheep and goats
Enrichment for farm animals - USDA NAL
Environmental enrichment for animals used for scientific purposes
[PDF] The role of environmental enrichment - Phoenix Zoo

Euthanasia

Animal euthanasia information - Amber Waves
[PDF] AVMA Guidelines on euthanasia
[PDF] The emergency euthanasia of sheep and goats - UC Davis | HTML
Euthanasia (slaughter) - Woolshed 1 blog
Euthanasia action plan for sheep and goats - Ontario, Canada
[PDF] Guidelines for humane euthanasia of animals by firearms
Humane destruction of stock - NSW, Australia | PDF
[PDF] Humane euthanasia of animals - University of Georgia
[PDF] Humane euthanasia of farm animals - Alberta, Canada
[PDF] Humane euthanasia of sick, injured, and/or debilitated livestock
On-farm euthanasia of sheep and goats - Ontario, Canada
[Interactive video] On-farm livestock euthanasia - UC Davis

Handling

Animal handling tips - Penn State University
Efficient handling of meat goats
Handling goats - LifeStyle Block NZ
[PDF] Handling large farm animals - University of New Hampshire
Handling sheep - Follow Your Dream Farm
Handling sheep and lambs: Sheep 201
[PDF] Low stress livestock handling - University of Idaho
Low stress livestock handling @ Managing Wholes
[PDF] Low stress livestock handling on pasture and range
[PDF] Recommended animal handling guidelines - AMI
Sheep handling - Queensland, Australia
Sheep handling - SAC UK
Sheep handling tips -Lifestyle Block NZ

Pain

Animal welfare science summit: pain and pain management
[PDF] Assessment of acute pain in farm animals... - J Anim Sci
Distress in farm animals: is it fear, pain, or physical distress?
Guidelines for the recognition and assessment of animal pain
Measuring pain in farm animals - AHWLA UK
Pain and distress in farm animals - AWIC
[PDF] Pain control in food animals - North Dakota State University
Pain in farm animals - Sust. Animal Production
Treating pain and distress in farm animals - AVMA
[PDF] Understanding pain and its relevance to animals - AFAC

Safety

Animal handling safety considerations - University of Missouri
Barnyard animals - Ohio State University
[PDF] Handling farm animals safety - Farm Safety Association
Handling livestock safely - Alberta, Canada
[PDF] An information guide on sheep handling - Queensland, Australia
Livestock safety @ Auburn University
[PDF] Sheep safety - Nova Scotia
[PDF] Working safely with livestock - Ohio State University

Slaughter

The Halal slaughter controversy - Mustaqim Islamic Art/Arch. | print
[PDF, poster] Humane (Halal) on-farm slaughter of sheep and goats
Humane methods of livestock slaughter: U.S. Code
Maintaing acceptable animal welfare during Kosher or Halal slaughter
Manual for slaughter of small ruminants in developing countries - FAO
Recommended ritual slaughter practices - Grandin.com
Religious slaughter and animal welfare: a discussion for meat scientists
Research articles on humane slaughter - Grandin.com
A scientific comment on the welfare of sheep slaughtered w/o stunning

Transportaton

Information resources for livestock and poultry handling and transport
Livestock movement including transport and export - NSW, Australia
Livestock transport @ AFAC
[PDF] Moving sheep and goats from pastoral to agric. areas - Western, Australia
[WORD] Lowering stress of transported goats - Ontario, Canada
Tips for transporting cattle and sheep - NSW, Australia | PDF
Transport of livestock - FAO United Nations

Welfare

Animal welfare - Sheepmeat Council of Australia
Animal welfare and behavior: goats part 1 - Woolshed 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Animal welfare and behavior: sheep part 1 - Woolshed 1 | 2 | 3
[PDF] Goat welfare - Manitoba Goat Association
The welfare of docking and castrating lambs
[PDF] Welfare of sheep in the UK - UK Sheep Vet Society
[PDF] Welfare of sheep: review of recent literature - Prairie Swine Centre

The Maryland Small Ruminant Page [sheepandgoat.com] was created in 1998 as an information portal for sheep and goat producers and anyone else interested in sheep and goat production. The web site includes original documents and images as well as a comprehensive list of links pertaining to small ruminants and related topics. The web site was developed and is maintained by Susan Schoenian, Extension Sheep & Goat Specialist at the University of Maryland's Western Maryland Research & Education Center. Susan has been with University of Maryland Extension since 1988. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Animal Science from Virginia Tech and Montana State University, respectively, and also attended The Ohio State University. Susan conducts the Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test at her research facility in Keedysville. She raises registered and commercial Katahdin sheep on her small farm called The Baalands in Clear Spring, Maryland. Please direct all questions, comments, or suggestions to Susan at sschoen@umd.edu.

Disclaimer: The links contained on the Maryland Small Ruminant Page [sheepandgoat.com] and other pages created by Susan Schoenian are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of any person, organization, business, product, or web site. The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information. Users of this web site and all external links are advised to apply common sense and sound judgement to all information obtained from the internet, regardless of source.

Last updated 24-Jul-2010 by Susan Schoenian.