Sheep are stoic animals that mask pain effectively — this has contributed to chronic undertreatment of pain in a species that undergoes numerous painful procedures without analgesia.
Sheep pain management represents a significant welfare gap in livestock production, partly driven by sheep stoicism that makes pain invisible to casual observation, and partly by the traditional normalization of painful procedures in sheep husbandry. Mulesing — performed on approximately 10 million Merino sheep annually — causes ongoing pain from tissue removal and healing that represents substantial preventable suffering. Alternative approaches including genetic selection for bare-breech sheep, raised wool breeds, and chemical wool-loosening are available and increasingly adopted. For all painful procedures, validated analgesic protocols exist and should be required. The evidence is sufficient to mandate pain management — what is lacking is regulatory will and industry commitment.