Sheep are prey animals that evolved to hide pain and vulnerability, making pain recognition and management one of the most challenging aspects of sheep welfare.
Sheep welfare is particularly challenging to assess because the species has evolved strong instincts to conceal pain and weakness. This prey animal stoicism means that by the time a sheep shows obvious signs of pain or illness, the condition is often advanced. Recognition of more subtle pain indicators using validated tools such as the Sheep Pain Facial Action Unit system, locomotion scoring, and body condition scoring is essential for identifying welfare problems at earlier stages. Pain management for routine procedures including castration and tail docking through local anaesthetic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is now standard best practice but remains inconsistently applied across the industry.