| 1st series of TechCare National Workshops (NWs) | |
| Topic: | Prioritization of health and welfare issues in small ruminant farming systems |
| When: | 09/2020 till 06/2021 |
| Where: | 9 countries (France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Romania, Spain, UK) |
| No. Participants: | 246 |
| NWs Summary: | A common list of materials was prepared for the 1st series of NWs comprising the workshop invitation together with a consent form for the participants, the workshop agenda, a survey concerning the perspectives of stakeholders on the Precision Livestock Farming technology and welfare status in small ruminants’ sector, a list with potential welfare issues, as reported in relevant scientific literature, and a short presentation of the main key points, aims and objectives of TechCare project. To reach consensus between stakeholders, the O.P.E.R.A (Own, Pair, Explain, Rank and Arrange) method was used, which is a systematic way of meeting, aiming to merge different opinions and aspects into one view, in order to obtain a consensus decision based on the knowledge and experiences of all the stakeholders. |
| Main Outcomes: | A list of welfare issues in small ruminant farming systems was formulated for each country, taking into consideration the views of the local stakeholders with findings varying by production system and region. For meat sheep, the most common issues included nutritional challenges, such as feed competition and poor-quality diets (e.g., in Spain, Ireland, and the UK), housing and environmental conditions, and parasitic infections (e.g., in Spain France). Dairy sheep farmers reported concerns about mastitis, a key health issue across multiple countries, alongside nutritional problems (Spain, Italy) and challenges related to housing and environmental management (France, Greece). For dairy goats, welfare issues such as mastitis, nutritional deficiencies, and antagonistic behaviour (e.g., in Norway) were significant. Certain issues were context-specific, such as high mortality rates in Ireland and Norway, poor maternal relationships in Ireland, and respiratory diseases in Israel for meat sheep. Across all systems, shared concerns included improving housing conditions, ensuring adequate nutrition, and addressing health problems like mastitis and parasitic infections. The overview of the main outcomes is presented in the following Table 1. |
Copyright pictures ELGO-DIMITRA, TEAGASC, BUAS, IDELE
