The Sheep Pain Facial Action Coding System provides a validated tool for identifying pain in sheep — animals whose stoic nature and prey-species behaviour make pain recognition particularly challenging for farmers and veterinarians.
Sheep pain recognition represents a significant welfare gap in commercial sheep production. The stoic nature of sheep — evolved as a survival adaptation against predators — means that farmers and vets relying on casual observation systematically under-detect pain. Animals suffering from painful conditions including footrot, mastitis, and dystocia may receive no analgesic treatment because pain signals are insufficient to prompt intervention. Validated facial expression tools provide an objective, accessible method for improving pain detection without specialist equipment. Integrating pain facial action coding into routine flock health checks and veterinary training would produce meaningful welfare improvements across large sheep populations at relatively low cost.