Sheep are stoic animals that mask pain effectively, making welfare assessment challenging and leading to undertreatment of pain in routine farming procedures.
The stoic nature of sheep creates a significant welfare risk: farmers and stockpersons often misread absence of obvious pain behavior as absence of pain. Research using physiological markers and validated behavioral scoring has repeatedly demonstrated that common husbandry procedures cause significant pain that persists beyond the procedure itself. Routine analgesic use for procedures such as castration and tail docking is low despite clear evidence of pain and available, affordable medications. Training farm staff in validated pain recognition tools and changing the default assumption from "no pain unless obviously expressed" to "pain expected unless specifically managed" would improve welfare substantially.