Sheep Factsheet

www.goodheartanimalsanctuaries.com

Social Structures:
Sheep have a very gregarious and social nature which allows One of our founders,

them to form close bonds with other individuals within their Dwynwen Jones, helping to

feed our rescued cull ewes.

flock. Flocks typically include multiple females (ewes), offspring

(lambs) and one or more males (rams or tups). Ewes tend to stay

in their maternal groups for life, whereas rams will form bachelor

groups and move into new flocks. Sheep will graze together

with casual affiliations (friends) rather than following a strict Did you know that although sheep

graze on grass in summer, it's

hierarchy, as seen in cattle herds.
important to supplement their feed

Natural Behaviours: through the winter months with hay

and sheep nuts?

Sheep are a prey species that rely solely on their ability to flee

from predation in order to survive. Flocking behaviour is seen in Sheep in UK Agriculture:

groups as small as four individuals, and if an individual becomes Sheep were one of the first animals to be domesticated and are

isolated from their flock they will become stressed quite quickly. farmed in the UK for their meat, wool and milk. They may be

When escape from a threat is not possible, sheep may stamp housed in indoor or outdoor systems.

their hooves or even charge to intimidate their opponent. Rams

enter a state of rut (usually in the winter months) when they are Intense breeding pressure is placed on ewes to produce at least

ready to copulate with ewes. Males will physically challenge one or two offspring every year, with some breeds being

other males for breeding rights and dominance within a flock as selectively bred to produce three lambs per year. This is

typically only the top-ranking male will breed with the ewes. particularly exhausting for the mother and may cause still birth

When a male approaches a female, he will nudge her, lick her or even death in the ewe. Moreover, milk supplies are limited

and paw the ground to let her know that he is interested. Sheep which may cause the second and thirds lambs to be rejected or

hit puberty between 7 and 12 months and gestation typically starve to death without human intervention.

lasts 152 days. Sheep are more intelligent than you might think.
Reports suggest that thousands of sheep may suffer disease
They are capable of problem-solving, can recognise their own
and infection as a result of neglect by the farmer. Common
name, and can even be clicker-trained. There is some evidence
illnesses include foot rot/scold, fly strike, lameness and
that sheep can recognise individual human faces for up to 2
parasites. Fly strike is a particularly serious illness which occurs
years. A sheep's average lifespan is 12-15 years, yet they can be
as a result of faecal build up around the tail and anus of the
sent to slaughter from as young as five months old.
sheep which attracts flies, which in turn lay their eggs, resulting

Goodhearted Sheep Care: in maggots, which slowly eat the flesh of the infected sheep.

We make sure that our sheep remain in familiar flocks where they
Farmers try to prevent fly strike by docking the tails of young

can continue to build strong relationships over time. We give all

lambs - attaching a rubber band to the naturally long tail to cut

of our sheep a visual health check twice a day, with a through

off the blood supply, turning the tip of the tail necrotic so that it

health check every 6 weeks. This includes body scoring our

eventually drops off. This is undoubtedly painful for the young

individuals to monitor their weight, checking their tail and skin to

lamb as it is carried out without any form of anesthetic or pain

make sure there are no infections, and trimming their feet to

relief.

make sure they have a clean, flat surface to walk on. We give our

sheep activity balls to play with and scratching posts to rub

The lifespan of a sheep in UK agriculture is dictated by the

against. Another important part of caring for sheep is shearing:

purpose that it serves humans: lambs reared for meat may be

removing their heavy woolly fleece at the end of Spring in

sent to slaughter from the age of just ten weeks old up to

readiness for the warmer Summer months. At

around four months old. Ewes used for breeding will be sent to

our sanctuary, we take particular care when

slaughter when she is no longer deemed productive'. This

shearing our sheep to ensure that no sheep is

could be due to a variety of reasons, all of which are detrimental

rushed and they are all handled with respect

to the farmer's economic yield. For example, the ewe may have

during the quick and painless process. Without

a genetic disorder, she may be elderly, or simply deemed

shearing, modern domestic sheep may eventually die from over-

'problematic' due to previous difficulty during birth and lamb

heating or becoming trapped on their back by the

rearing. As ewes age, their fertility and colostrum production

weight of their heavy wool during the Winter months.

decreases as well as their 'cull' market value; this incentivizes

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Sheep Factsheet
www.goodheartanimalsanctuaries.com

'Sheep in UK Agriculture continued: One of our ewes, Mindy,

farmers to cull their ewes when they are still reasonably young suffers from a neurological

disorder which affects her

(anywhere between 4 and 10 years old). Surplus tup lambs may

ability to chew fodder

be deemed worthless if they are not intended for mating, and
because her upper and lower
thus may be culled just a few days after birth.
jaws aren't aligned. To

overcome this, our animal

Approximately 540 million sheep are slaughtered

care team feed Mindy

each year worldwide. Farming practices and welfare concerns
softened concentrated
vary around the globe. In 2013 the number of sheep reared for
pellets which require little
meat and wool were distributed as follows: 44% in Asia, 28.2% in
chewing. We're happy to say
Africa; 11.2% in Europe, 9.1% in Oceania, 7.4% in the Americas.
that Mindy is doing very well!

Welfare Concerns: Tail docking is

Animal welfare is based on three main components (below)

common in the

and when these become compromised, that can have a UK

direct impact on the quality of that animal's life.

Physical wellbeing

Mental wellbeing

Natural living

The main welfare concerns for sheep in agriculture include

Mulesing is
Sheep naturally
physical mutilation (tail docking, ear tagging and castration),
incredibly painful
have very long tails
lameness (loss of movement), high lamb mortality rates and
for the sheep
when they are not
long distance transport to the site of slaughter. involved.
docked.

What can you do to help?

The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) states that tail docking
If you are concerned by anything that you have read in this
and castration 'should not be undertaken without strong
factsheet, you may be wondering what you can do to help.
justification' however both practices are common in sheep

farming. Evidence shows that tail docking is not required to The only way that you can be sure that you are not contributing

reduce the risk of fly strike; regular health checks and 'switch to the exploitation of sheep in agriculture is by cutting out all

trimming' (trimming the wool around the anus of the sheep) are animal products from your lifestyle. You can also encourage

much less invasive and stressful for the animal involved. Some farmers to improve their standards of animal welfare by never

research also suggests that docking tails too short (as seen in purchasing intensively farmed meat, especially from other

show lambs) may even increase the risk of anal prolapse in later countries where the animals may have been subjected to long

life. distance transportation and varying standards of care.

An Australian breed known as the Merino sheep have been bred You may also wish to lend your support to farmed animal

with particularly wrinkly skin resulting in increased production of welfare campaigns which look to end live animal exports as well

wool. Sadly, this also comes with an increased risk of flystrike. as ending intensive farming practices in the UK.

Mulesing is a cruel yet common practice in Australia where

farmers remove strips of skin around the sheep's buttocks to

reduce this risk.

Check out our sources:

Long distance transport poses another serious animal welfare
1] https://www.msdvetmanual.com/behavior/normal-social-behavior-and-behavioral-
risk. Each year, around 1.5 million live sheep (as young as four
problems-of-domestic-animals/social-behavior-of-sheep

weeks old) are transported across the EU where legislation to 2] https://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/sheep/sheep-welfare/

3]
allow the animal the rest, feed and water they require for such a
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachme

stressful journey is frequently ignored. Trucks are overcrowded nt_data/file/325125/FAWC_report_on_the_implications_of_castration_and_tail_dockin

g_for_the_welfare_of_lambs.pdf
with insufficient headroom; this may lead to overheating and
4] https://agreenerworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TAFS-2-Management-to-

individuals may not be able to access water at all. This is a

Avoid-Tail-Docking-Sheep-v1.pdf

highly stressful process for the animals involved. 5] https://hsi.org.au/campaign/animal-welfare-5/mulesing

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