On 25th May 2023, the UK government (Conservative) dropped the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. The news was given in an oral statement to Parliament by Mark Spencer, the Minister for Farming and Rural Affairs.

This year, a matter - long-troubling - has come to prominence. Though about a particular place and circumstance, it displays some fundamentals, relevant across the globe. 

Last week, three lambs were taken from a farm field by activists from the campaign group Animal Rising (AR). Their aim was to rescue them. Their belief was that the lambs were destined to be sent to slaughter. The lambs were transported away in a vehicle. AR ‘said the animals were safe and with animal experts’ (Katy Lewis, BBC News, 25th May). AR’s action has attracted considerable attention from the media and others.

There are occasions when sheep need to be moved - whether for their own benefit, or for humans’ purpose. The level of stress and discomfort to sheep from being moved varies according to type and circumstance of the movement.

Gentleness is a fundamental characteristic of sheep. Sheep are prey animals, without the ability to be aggressive to predators. The most sheep can do in a situation of being chased or attacked is to run away, or else stand ground together. If an individual sheep wants to ‘put someone off’, to protect itself or its offspring, the best it can do is stamp a foot. Sheep do sometimes have one-to-one arguments using means of head-butting. And rams will attack, with their heads. Gentleness is, however, sheep’s general stance and nature.

The context for sheep worrying by dogs is: sheep are prey animals; dogs’ natural instinct is to go after sheep. The arena for potential sheep worrying by dogs is: dogs out of control; sheep placed where dogs can see, and reach, them. Unless a dog is wild, or a stray, it is given care by a human and its actions and behaviour are in the governance of a human. A domesticated and farmed sheep is in human care, and its location is chosen by a human. So, responsibility for sheep worrying by dogs rests with humans.

The general public loves lambs.
Sheep farmers put every effort into seeing that lambs are born safely and that they then grow and flourish.
Yet much of the public eats lamb.
Yet sheep farmers sell a quantity of their lambs to be killed and eaten.
There seems to be dissonance here.

Live export of animals is very concerning. By its nature, it is highly likely to give suffering to the animals. If, also, conditions are dire, procedure is poor, and there is bad treatment of the animals by humans, the circumstance is worse. Sheep are an animal group much exported live, and therefore they are much victim to the live export situation.

When lambs are born, their mothers - ewes - produce milk for them, and until the lambs are weaned. That is nature’s way. If the sheep’s owners want milk from the ewes to provide a product - milk, yogurt, or cheese - things can become rather different. There is human intervention and alteration to a natural course. At a chosen stage of ewe’s milk production, lambs are taken away from their mothers and their mother’s milk, and are fed on something else.

The proportion of the year when lambs are born and still young is quite considerable. Sheep farmers choose when lambs are to be born on the basis of their aim for the lambs, and in relation to the likelihood of favourable weather. In the UK, lambs come into the world from mid-winter until late spring, with March-April as the peak; and so there can be presence of young ones during that period and into summer.

Traditional shepherding brings good care to sheep. The shepherd is with a flock of sheep all, or most of, the time, so sheep are much watched-over. Guard and warning are there against any predators.

Sheep are quiet animals. They don’t make a lot of sound. They are not ‘loud mouths’. Lamb and mother will baa to each other; and sheep at a show, placed in pens alongside fellows, will likely baa. If sheep are suffering, it is not in their nature to voice it. But with their ears sheep are expressing things; this is by the positions the ears take. The question is ‘What is being expressed?’.