Sheep and lambs in extensive farming face welfare challenges including cold exposure, painful husbandry procedures, predation events and inadequate veterinary access that require targeted improvement.
Sheep welfare in extensive farming systems is characterized by the tension between low-input, naturalistic management and the welfare risks inherent in reduced human oversight. Neonatal mortality from hypothermia and mismothering represents significant suffering that attentive shepherding and shelter provision can substantially reduce. Routine painful procedures — castration, tail docking and mulesing in Merino production — are performed on millions of lambs annually, frequently without pain relief despite evidence that long-acting analgesia is both effective and economically feasible. Foot rot causes months of painful lameness in affected animals and is both preventable and treatable with appropriate management. Improving welfare in extensive sheep systems requires both better farmer education and regulatory requirements for pain relief in all routine procedures.