One Welfare for all: Associations between sheep welfare indicators and producers’ mental health

Objective. The objective of this observational cross-sectional study was to investigate associations between sheep farmers' mental health scores for stress, anxiety, depression, and resilience, and sheep welfare indicators. Materials and methods. Twenty-two sheep farms in the Colombian departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca, Tolima, and Meta, were visited on a single occasion. Clinical health, cleanliness, and calmness of randomly selected sheep per farm were scored to identify the number of animals with different welfare problems such as lameness, hoof overgrowth, and mastitis. A face-to-face interview with the farmer was performed to gather demographic information (farm size and year of establishment, gender, age, role at the farm, and education) and to complete validated psychometric scales to assess resilience, stress, anxiety, and depression. Linear regression models were used to evaluate associations between farmers' mental health scores, demographic aspects, and within-flock prevalence of sheep welfare indicators. Results. A total of 427 sheep were evaluated across different farms. The most prevalent welfare problems were hoof overgrowth (40.9%) and dirty fleece (32.9%); the least prevalent were clinical mastitis (1.3%) and respiratory issues (1.2%). Farmers' stress level was positively associated with the prevalence of clinically lame sheep and farm size. Anxiety was positively associated with the prevalence of sheep with dirty fleeces, clinical lameness, and with being a female farmer. Depression was positively associated with the prevalence of hoof overgrowth. Conclusions. Findings showed that higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among farmers were associated with the presence of animal welfare problems, larger farms, and gender.