Sheep farmers are being called on to make their voices heard on what the main challenges and needs are in the sheep farming industry.

EuroSheep – a European-wide network about practice-driven innovation to improve sheep profitability – is seeking farmer views for a survey it is running.

It is estimated that participants would need to spend approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey.

The objective of this survey is to obtain and assess the opinion of farmers, advisors and other stakeholders within the sheep industry to identify what are the main challenges and needs that have to be met to improve the profitability of sheep production through nutrition, flock health and good management practices.

According to the research group:

“This survey is the first step of a wider European project called EuroSheep [“European Network for interactive and innovative knowledge exchange on animal health and nutrition between the sheep industry actors and stakeholders”] which is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.”

The study aims to increase sheep profitability. The next step will involve providing solutions to the main challenges and needs identified in this survey, the researchers added.

There are no right or wrong answers; it is your opinion we are seeking in this survey.

This project is led by Idele (France), with the collaboration of other research and development centres and organisations from France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, UK, Spain and Turkey.

SRUC researcher Claire Morgan-Davies and Teagasc’s Tim Keady, from the UK and Ireland respectively, are involved in the project.

It was highlighted that participation in the project study is voluntary and that a participant’s individual data will not be made public.

“The information gathered will remain confidential and will not be used for other objectives beyond those specific for the EuroSheep project. The global results of this survey will be available publicly,” organisers concluded.