EuroSheep: End users assessments of flock health and nutrition Best Practices

A series of 96 Best Practices (BP) addressing sheep health and nutrition issues suggested by the 8 partner countries in the EuroSheep project were identified. During the 3rd national workshops series undertaken in each EuroSheep country, stakeholders selected their 10 most preferred best practices from other countries. These 51 preferred BPs have then been the subjects of cost benefit analyses and the sustainability impacts of their implementation have been evaluated. A total of 147 assessments on 44 different best practices (24 health and 20 nutrition) were subsequently completed by farmers who implemented the practice or by farmers, veterinarians, advisors or other stakeholders who experienced the outcomes of the implementation of the practice. Commercial farmers, research farm staff and veterinarians completed 98, 15 and 34 assessments, respectively. Completed assessments indicated whether the respondent implemented the practice, and the equipment, cost, specific labour and prerequisites required to implement it, as well as the overall acceptance, observed benefits, implementation facility and potential limits to implementation. Overall, most of the BPs implemented received a good satisfaction rating (68%) and only 2 received a poor satisfaction rating. For some of them (27%), assessments were contradictory depending on the farming systems.