Lameness is the most significant welfare problem in sheep farming, affecting an estimated 10% of ewes at any given time. Evidence-based prevention and treatment programs deliver dramatic welfare improvements.
Sheep lameness represents one of the most prevalent and chronically undertreated welfare problems in UK farming. The normalization of 10% lameness prevalence as an industry standard reflects inadequate recognition of the suffering involved. A lame sheep experiences pain with every step, reduces grazing time, loses body condition, and in ewes, may be unable to nurse lambs effectively. The five-point plan approach demonstrates that lameness is not an inevitability but a solvable problem — flocks committed to the five-point approach have achieved near-zero lameness prevalence. The primary barriers are time, resources, and cultural normalization of lameness rather than technical impossibility. Consumer pressure for verifiable lameness management standards would create market incentives for the management changes that welfare science has already identified as effective.