While sheep production has an important place in many farming systems across the world, sheep products face an increasingly competitive market. In addition to traditional concerns about product quality, consumers are also increasingly motivated by issues such as livestock welfare, greenhouse gas emissions and the sustainability of production to maintain or enhance natural capital.

Advances in sheep production provides a comprehensive review of these challenges and the specific measures implementable to improve sustainability, animal health and product quality. The book also considers the contribution of breeding to improving non-production traits, management practices to improve lifetime health and performance, as well as ways of monitoring and improving health, welfare and nutrition.

In providing a detailed overview of the current status of sheep production, the book showcases the areas where improvement is required to achieve optimum sustainability, health, welfare and nutrition, as well as product quality.

Edited by two world-renowned consultants in the sheep sector, the book will be a standard reference for university and other researchers in small ruminant science, advisors consulting sheep farmers on aspects of health, welfare and nutrition, livestock nutritionists, as well as government and other private sector agencies responsible for ensuring sustainable sheep farming and product quality.

Now an independent consultant, Lesley Stubbings is a former Principal Sheep Consultant with ADAS in the UK. She is recipient of both an OBE from the UK Government and the George Hedley Memorial Award from the UK National Sheep Association for her outstanding contribution to the British sheep sector. She is an Honorary Life Member of the Sheep Veterinary Society and a leading figure in the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) Group which is acknowledged as a world leader in integrated parasite control.

Kate Phillips is an independent consultant for the UK sheep sector and former Principal Livestock Consultant with ADAS. She is also a Regional Advisor for the Moredun Foundation and was a Senior Lecturer at Harper Adams University teaching ruminant production and nutrition. She is widely recognised for her expertise in aspects of sheep nutrition, welfare and health issues such as lameness and scab.

Part 1 Challenges facing sheep production

• 1.Understanding consumer and societal attitudes to sheep production: Raffaele Zanoli, Universita Politecnica delle Marche, Italy;
• 2.Sustainability issues affecting sheep production: Hollie Riddell, Bangor University, UK;
• 3.One Health issues affecting sheep production: Neil Sargison, University of Edinburgh, UK;

Part 2 Improving breeding and reproduction

• 4.Advances in understanding the genetics of production and non-production traits in sheep: Samir Id-Lahoucine, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), UK;
• 5.Improving ewe management for lifetime production: Nerys Wright, AHDB, UK;
• 6.Advances in improving lamb survival and health: Cathy Dwyer, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), UK;

Part 3 Improving flock health and welfare management

• 7.Improving disease surveillance in sheep flocks: Rudolf Reichel, Animal and Plant Health Agency, UK;
• 8.Advances in understanding, preventing and managing parasitic infections of sheep: Eric Morgan, Queen's University Belfast, UK;
• 9.The use of precision livestock technologies in managing sheep health and welfare: Claire Morgan-Davies, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), UK;

Part 4 Managing grazing systems and nutrition

• 10.Advances in sustainable sheep pasture and grazing management: David Barker, Ohio State University, USA;
• 11.Improving pasture/grassland for optimised sheep nutrition and health: Liz Genever, Consultant, UK;
• 12.Developments in feed supplements for improved sheep nutrition and health: Alison Bond, Rumenco, UK;
• 13.Advances in understanding and optimising gastrointestinal function in sheep: Zhongtang Yu, The Ohio State University, USA;

Part 5 Improving sustainability and product sustainability

• 14.Genetic improvements to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from sheep: Suzanne Rowe, AgResearch, New Zealand;
• 15.The use of sheep in mixed farming systems for improved sustainability: Jude Capper, Harper Adams University and Livestock Sustainability Consultant, UK;
• 16.Advances in understanding and optimising sheep meat eating quality and nutritional value: Nichola Schreurs, Massey University, New Zealand;
• 17.Advances in understanding and optimising sheep wool quality: Ningtao Mao, University of Leeds, UK;