Lambing represents one of the most welfare-intensive periods of the sheep farming year — with significant mortality, exposure, and dystocia risks requiring skilled stockmanship.
Lambing is a welfare-critical period that showcases both the vulnerability of farm animals and the difference skilled stockmanship makes. The preventable mortality rate reflects the enormous impact of human management decisions: whether ewes have adequate nutrition during pregnancy, whether shelter is available during adverse weather, whether colostrum provision is monitored, and whether dystocia is recognized and addressed promptly. Pain management for difficult births remains inconsistent. Some ewes experience prolonged, unassisted dystocia causing significant suffering before intervention. Training programs that improve stockmanship skills, combined with facilities designed for easy observation and rapid intervention, have demonstrated significant welfare improvements.