Farmers' opinions on welfare, health and production practices in extensive hill sheep flocks in Great Britain

Despite large numbers of hill sheep reared in the UK, little is known about how hill farmers react to health challenges in their flocks. This paper addresses this lack of knowledge of sheep health management practices and presents farmers' opinions and concerns, particularly regarding ectoparasite control. Focus groups and interviews with UK hill sheep farmers were carried out to collect information on management practices, health concerns, in addition to incidence and impacts of six major ectoparasites (ticks, lice, sheep scab mite, blowfly, keds and headfly), to determine how they viewed the effects of ectoparasites and their control on production practices. We conclude that despite variations between hill sheep farm conditions and levels of input, similar health concerns and ectoparasite issues were found across different hill sheep fanning areas of the UK. Farm labour was also an important issue and most farmers would prefer more labour to be available to effectively manage ectoparasites in their flocks. Finally, there was variation in farmers' opinions of the impact of ectoparasite species on welfare and productivity. This variation in opinion can be related to a trend in their past experience of ectoparasites, but no relationships were found with the animal health treatments farmers use, the number of animals in their flock or variation in the type of grazing land available. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.