Sheep Code of Practice - Progress Updates

February 2025

The first in-person sheep Code meeting was held in Ottawa in mid-December. Both the Code Committee (CC) and the Scientific Committee (SC) members were present. The two-day meeting had a full agenda to achieve three key outcomes:

• Build strong foundations for working together
• Reach consensus on the priority welfare issues (PWI) list for the SC research report
• Establish the order in which to review Code sections and create the associated subcommittees to begin the work.   

Over two days, the group engaged in discussions and tasks that helped them build relationships and allowed them to share their perspectives on various topics, including visions of success for this Code update. To help encourage teamwork and discussion and to interject some fun into what can be an arduous process, the group participated in a competitive Lego sheep building contest. The competition was fierce with prizes on the line. After some frustration, fun, and lessons learned, Team Tangerine came out victorious.  

The SC and CC examined and discussed topics identified through the Top-of-Mind survey and were able to finalize the list of priority welfare issues (PWIs) for sheep. Over the next year, the SC will review and summarize the available science on these topics. 

Initial discussions on Code content are helping the CC identify the order-of-operations. Subcommittees are being formed to undertake an initial review of each Code section. Subcommittees will begin reviewing sections of the Code in preparation for the next in-person meeting in summer 2025.

October 2024

The Code Committee has been finalized and work is underway. All members of both the Code Committee and Scientific Committee have attended online orientation meetings. The orientations provided an overview of the NFACC Code Development Process, an overview of some administrative activities, and an outline of the anticipated timelines for the project.  

The first in-person meeting has been set for December 11th and 12th in Ottawa. Some initial work toward identifying Priority Welfare Issues (PWI) has begun. Both committees will provide input before the meeting and then come together to reach a consensus on the final PWI list at the December meeting. Reaching consensus on the PWIs for the Scientific Committee is a key part of the December meeting, so after the meeting the Scientific Committee can begin working on their report. The 2012 Scientific Report is available here.

August 2024

The sheep Code update is moving forward with the Code Committee nearly finalized.  The Scientific Committee is organized with a Research Writer contracted. The top-of-mind survey to capture input from those interested in sheep welfare closed on July 25^th. Input collected from that survey will be presented to the Code Committee for consideration.  It is anticipated the first in-person meeting will happen in the September/October timeframe.