Attitudes of Australian sheep farmers to animal welfare

TL;DRAbstract

Previous research has indicated that Australian sheep farmers believe that long-term welfare issues, such as parasite control and poor stockmanship, are more important welfare problems for sheep than short-term painful procedures, such as castration, whereas the reverse was true for animal welfare activists. There is therefore an incongruity between the welfare issues that Australian livestock farmers believe to be most serious on their properties and those that are the focus of activist campaigns. This could either be due to farmers becoming desensitized over time to the exhibition of pain by their stock following invasive procedures or because of their better understanding of the factors affecting their animals’ welfare. A nominated sample of 22 Australian sheep farmers were visited to conduct semi-structured interviews on the major welfare problems on their properties and those facing the industry, as well as factors influencing their sensitivity to animal welfare issues and how t

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