Lameness is the most significant welfare problem in sheep worldwide. Early detection, accurate diagnosis, and evidence-based treatment dramatically reduce the burden of this painful condition.
Sheep lameness causes significant chronic pain in large numbers of animals. The challenge is that sheep stoically mask pain as a prey species survival strategy, making lame sheep appear less severely affected than they are. Regular locomotion scoring that proactively identifies early lameness enables treatment within the critical 3-day window that dramatically improves outcomes. Flock-level lameness management programs that combine prevention through vaccination, biosecurity, and footbathing with early detection and treatment protocols consistently achieve lameness prevalence below 2%, demonstrating that the current industry average of 10% represents preventable suffering at scale.