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Assessment of farmer recognition and reporting of lameness in adults in 35 lowland sheep flocks in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

EM King  and
LE Green
EM King
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
LE Green*
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: laura.green@warwick.ac.uk
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of farmer recognition and reporting of lameness in their sheep flock when compared with the prevalence of lameness observed by a researcher. Thirty-five sheep farms were visited. Farmers were asked for estimates of the prevalence of lameness in 2008, in the flock and in one group of sheep that was inspected by the researcher the same day. These estimates were then compared with the researcher's estimate of lameness. All farmers were able to recognise lame sheep but they slightly under reported the prevalence of lameness in the group selected for examination when compared with the researcher's estimate. The proportion underestimated increased as the prevalence of lameness in the group increased. Farmer estimates on the day were consistently, closely and significantly correlated to that of the researcher's estimate of prevalence of lameness. We conclude that farmer estimates of prevalence of lameness in sheep are a sufficiently accurate and reliable tool for risk factor studies. The prevalence of lameness in sheep, nationally, is probably higher than the current estimate of 10% by 2-3%.

Keywords

animal welfarefarmer reliabilitylamenessrecognitionreportingsheep
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , August 2011 , pp. 321 - 328
Copyright
© 2011 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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