Sheep producers: your input is needed on the draft Sheep Code.
Canada’s draft Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Sheep has officially entered its public comment period.
The Canadian Sheep Federation is strongly encouraging sheep producers from across the country to read the draft and provide feedback.
The public comment period is an important part of Canada’s Code development process. It provides an opportunity for stakeholders to review the work completed by the Code Committee and provide feedback that will inform the final Code.
For sheep producers, participation is particularly important.
The Code will establish national expectations for sheep care and will have relevance far beyond the document itself. Codes serve as industry guidance, inform animal care assessment programs and, in many provinces, are referenced within animal protection legislation.
The people who raise sheep every day bring knowledge to this process that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
Different production systems, flock sizes, geographic regions and management conditions can significantly affect how a proposed requirement works in practice. The Code Committee needs to hear those perspectives as it considers the feedback received and moves toward a final Code.
We are asking producers to do more than simply skim the document.
Please read the draft carefully and consider:
- What works?
- What does not?
- Are proposed requirements practical and achievable under Canadian sheep production conditions?
- Could there be unintended animal welfare or management consequences?
- Are timelines, equipment, veterinary access or other expectations realistic across Canada?
- Where you identify a concern, is there another approach that could achieve the intended animal welfare outcome?
Most importantly, submit those comments through the official public comment system.
The Code process was specifically designed to incorporate diverse perspectives. The public comment period is the mechanism through which those perspectives become part of the formal record considered by the Code Committee. NFACC describes feedback as providing an important check and balance in the process and helping determine the direction of the final document.
Canada’s sheep producers need to be well represented in that feedback.
The public comment period closes October 9, 2026. Comments must be submitted through the online system to ensure they are reviewed consistently.
Please make the time to participate — and encourage other sheep producers in your network to do the same.
Your experience matters. Your perspective matters. But it needs to be submitted to be considered.
Read the Draft Code here
Participate in the Public Comment Period here
Draft Sheep Code of Practice Released for Public Comment – Release