A review of pain and welfare impacts associated with on farm sheep husbandry procedures.

Summary

This project was conducted to inform the proposed sheep welfare standards. It involved a review of key papers reviewing the welfare science on three sheep husbandry practices: castration, tail docking and ear marking. It also examined Australian and international standards for the conduct of these practices, including those of a selection of Animal Welfare groups, to provide a sense of where Australian practices sit in respect to international expectations.
There is a considerable body of science on castration and tail docking and clear indications of which methods are preferred from a welfare perspective. There is little in the literature on ear marking. A 3R (refine, relieve, replace) model was presented for each of castration and tail docking.