Dairy sheep farming is expanding globally as demand for sheep milk cheese grows — welfare standards for this species are less developed than for cattle or goats.
Dairy sheep welfare occupies an interesting position — the industry is smaller and more artisanal in many markets, creating assumptions of better welfare that are not necessarily supported by evidence. Sheep are stoic animals that mask pain and illness effectively, making welfare assessment challenging. The same fundamental welfare challenges present in dairy cattle systems — early separation of lambs, production-focused breeding that prioritizes yield, and lambing management — also occur in sheep dairy. The thinner evidence base for dairy sheep welfare standards creates genuine uncertainty about which practices cause greatest harm and how to address it most effectively.