Pain management in sheep has historically been neglected compared to cattle and companion animals. Research and advocacy have progressively established that routine procedures including dystocia assistance, castration, and tail docking cause significant pain that should be managed with licensed analgesics.
Ewes experiencing dystocia assistance — particularly caesarean section or vigorous traction — suffer significant pain that is not routinely managed. Lambs subjected to rubber ring castration show characteristic pain postures including leg kicking, lying down, and weight shifting that persist for hours. The economic and practical barriers to analgesia administration in sheep are often cited as limiting factors, but meloxicam solution is inexpensive and practical to administer orally or by injection. Establishing analgesic use as standard practice for sheep painful procedures — as it increasingly is for cattle — would represent a significant welfare improvement across the UK's 15 million breeding ewes.