Can parasitic gastro-enteritis be used as an indicator of welfare in organic sheep?

Summary

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference.
Organic livestock standards are designed to deliver good animal welfare but without an objective means of assessing welfare, it is difficult to know if they succeed. Existing assessment systems largely assess environmental requirements, rather than looking at animal behaviour or health. Parasitic gastro-enteritis (PGE) is recognised as being one of the most difficult diseases to prevent in organic livestock production. Monitoring systems for PGE can be used by organic farmers in their decision-making and could be one aspect of assessing animal welfare, particularly in relation to sheep. Results are presented of studies on an experimental organic beef/sheep farm and on commercial organic upland sheep farms. The usefulness of PGE control as an animal welfare indicator is discussed.