Sheep undergo numerous painful management procedures and face significant health challenges including footrot and internal parasites. Improving pain management and husbandry reduces suffering across the flock.
Sheep welfare is systematically undervalued relative to the welfare of more charismatic species. Their stoic pain behaviour — a predator-avoidance adaptation — makes suffering invisible to untrained observers, and the economics of sheep farming often limit investment in individual animal treatment. Lameness is the most significant welfare issue by prevalence: a lame sheep experiences chronic pain that impairs grazing, social behaviour and maternal care. Pain relief for routine procedures like castration and tail docking is increasingly recommended by veterinary bodies but remains poorly adopted. Mulesing in Australia is a contested area where alternatives including pain relief, selective breeding and flystrike management alternatives are expanding but not yet universal.