Tsekouras Nikolaos, Christodoulopoulos Mathis A B, Meletis Eleftherios, Kousoulis Christos, Kostoulas Polychronis, Pantazis Vasileios, Papatsiros Vasileios G, Dimoveli Konstantina, Gougoulis Dimitrios
Clinic of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Thessaly, 43100 Karditsa, Greece.
Faculty of Sciences, Aix-Marseille University, 13007 Marseille, France.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Apr 11;15(8):1104. doi: 10.3390/ani15081104.
This study examines the use of analgesic medications among sheep farmers, highlighting both their benefits and the significant gaps in their adoption. Our findings indicate that 26.7% of sheep farmers did not utilize any analgesics, a figure that contrasts sharply with high usage rates among swine (over 80%) and cattle (over 85%) farmers. The low utilization of NSAIDs and corticosteroids in sheep farming may be attributed to inadequate education and the lack of approved indications for these medications in Greece. Additionally, we found a positive correlation between farm size and the use of NSAIDs, with larger farms using more NSAIDs, especially flunixin. Furthermore, farms with higher NSAID use-typically the larger ones-tended to have higher milk yields, suggesting that enhanced management practices may contribute to improved outcomes. The results underscore the need for targeted educational initiatives to improve the use of analgesics in sheep farming and address welfare concerns. Overall, this research highlights the importance of addressing gaps in pain management practices in the sheep farming sector to promote better animal welfare. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to expand our understanding of analgesic use and its implications for sheep welfare.
本研究调查了养羊户使用镇痛药物的情况，强调了其益处以及在采用方面存在的显著差距。我们的研究结果表明，26.7%的养羊户未使用任何镇痛药，这一数字与养猪户（超过80%）和养牛户（超过85%）的高使用率形成鲜明对比。希腊养羊业中NSAIDs和皮质类固醇的低使用率可能归因于教育不足以及这些药物在希腊缺乏获批的适应症。此外，我们发现农场规模与NSAIDs的使用之间存在正相关，较大的农场使用更多的NSAIDs，尤其是氟尼辛。此外，NSAIDs使用量较高的农场——通常是较大的农场——往往产奶量较高，这表明加强管理措施可能有助于改善产出。结果强调了需要有针对性的教育举措，以改善养羊业中镇痛药的使用并解决动物福利问题。总体而言，本研究强调了解决养羊业疼痛管理实践中的差距以促进更好的动物福利的重要性。然而，需要进行更大样本量的进一步研究，以扩大我们对镇痛药使用及其对绵羊福利影响的理解。
