Animal Health & Welfare

Fleece cleanliness not only impacts on meat safety and financial penalties imposed at slaughter, but is also a welfare concern for the animal. Research has shown a relationship between the visible contamination of the coat and the microbial status of the finished animal, and as such, is related to the risk of infection and disease.

Below are some suggestions from the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) on how to improve fleece cleanliness:

• Keep sheep off land that could cause gross contamination, especially fields of roots or poached land.
• Use preventative husbandry practices, i.e. worming, clean grazing, correct stocking densities and clean housing.
• Feedstuffs should be carefully monitored. Silage, new grass, roots and brassicas can result in a greater amount of contamination. Changes or modification should be carefully made to diets to reduce diarrhoea. To improve acceptability at slaughter, it may be feasible to modify the diet before slaughter to decrease the amounts of contamination; however, care should be taken that this does not affect the animals' well-being.
• Consider housing or yarding animals through the winter. Housing should be well ventilated and maintained, bedded and cleaned to prevent accumulation of dirt, faeces and fluid. An appropriate stocking density should be allowed.

The full booklet on 'Keeping Sheep Clean' is available from: Meat and Livestock Commission, PO Box 44, Winterhill House, Snowdon Drive, Milton Keynes MK6 1AX.