Needs of the sheep industry regarding health and nutrition management in Europe, UK and Turkey

Within the EuroSheep project, an online survey was launched in 2020 to assess the opinion of sheep farmers andstakeholders in 6 European sheep producing countries (FR, GR, HU, IR, IT, SP), Turkey and UK. The objective was toidentify the main challenges and needs to enhance the sustainability of sheep farming through the nutrition and healthof adult sheep, yearlings and lambs, as well as potential best management practices and the most frequent sourcesof information used. A total of 1,163 valid surveys were accepted to assess the needs on nutrition, 1,182 for health,1,246 for management practices and 1,223 for information sources. There was a significant contribution of farmersand shepherds, who represented 57% of the participants, followed by advisors or consultants (12%), veterinaries (9%)and researchers (5%). The main topics identified from the surveys were discussed through multi-actor participatoryapproaches in national and transnational online workshops. Across the countries, a lot of the issues identified weresimilar. The knowledge of the nutrition requirement was the main nutrition issue for ewes, replacement or lambs.Grassland and grazing management was also a major need identified for ewes. For lamb nutrition, lamb performancestargets before weaning was the main issue, whilst, for replacement, it was growth target for first lambing at 1 year. Forhealth of the ewes and the replacement, the most important needs were related to internal parasitism, lameness andmastitis. The main issues identified for lamb health were neonatal diseases, coccidiosis and acute death. Finally, themain issues for management were flock health plans and outdoor welfare management. The EuroSheep network willtry to provide solutions and tips and tricks to respond to these challenges within each region and production system.