Sheep Pain Assessment: Closing the Gap in Farm Animal Pain Recognition

Sheep are stoic animals that mask pain effectively, making recognition and treatment of pain one of the most significant welfare challenges in sheep farming worldwide.

Key Facts

Sheep are prey animals that evolved to hide signs of weakness including pain, making clinical assessment difficult
The Sheep Pain Facial Action Unit (SPFAU) system identifies pain indicators including orbital tightening, cheek tension, and ear position changes
Lameness affects 3-10% of sheep in UK flocks at any given time and is a leading welfare concern
Footrot and foot scald, the main causes of sheep lameness, cause pain comparable to walking on a fractured limb in humans
Dystocia (difficult birth) and mastitis are significant sources of acute and chronic pain in ewes
Studies show that only around 20-30% of lame sheep receive timely treatment in many production systems
Analgesic use in sheep has historically been low, though meloxicam is now widely recommended for painful procedures including castration and tail docking

Welfare Considerations

Sheep are among the most pain-tolerant and pain-masking animals in agriculture, which has historically led to their suffering being underestimated and undertreated. Research using grimace scales has revealed that many routine husbandry procedures, including castration without anaesthesia, cause substantial acute pain. Chronic lameness causes persistent suffering that is compounded by the social stress of falling behind the flock. Improving pain recognition and normalising analgesic use in sheep farming is now a priority in welfare science.

What You Can Do

Support sheep producers who provide meloxicam for painful husbandry procedures
Learn to use sheep pain facial action unit indicators to assess pain in sheep you work with
Advocate for routine analgesic use during castration, tail docking, and dystocia as a minimum standard
Support farmer training programs that include pain recognition and treatment protocols
Choose lamb and wool from producers who demonstrate proactive lameness management
Lobby for regular lameness scoring to be a mandatory part of sheep welfare audits
Support research into longer-acting analgesics suitable for sheep welfare applications