Lameness is the most significant welfare problem in sheep, with conditions including footrot and CODD causing severe pain that is frequently undetected or untreated due to limitations in sheep behavior and farm management.
Sheep lameness causes significant pain that is frequently missed or accepted as a normal production cost. Unlike cattle where lameness is often visible, sheep behavioral adaptations as prey animals mean they mask pain effectively, often continuing to graze despite severe lameness. The daily health checks needed to detect early lameness are not consistently performed on all farms. Footrot causes tissue degradation between and under the claws that is visibly severe and clearly painful. Contagious ovine digital dermatitis causes lesions that are intensely painful to the touch. Effective control programs exist that can dramatically reduce lameness prevalence, but require farm-level commitment to systematic surveillance, prompt treatment, and vaccination.