It is generally accepted that sheep, animals which are sensitive and easily stressed, do not like/will not like noise. As the Fact Sheet on sheep behaviour provided by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture says ‘Sheep react negatively to loud noises and yelling’. And, in giving guidance about transport of livestock, the Humane Slaughter Association depicts relevant animals’ behavioural characteristics: it states about sheep that they ‘have acute hearing and will be startled by sudden noise’.
The noise types which sheep can be likely to encounter, and so which would give them upset, we can easily envisage: loudness of voice - human or canine (the latter emanating from a sheep predator, moreover); shot of a gun; clank of machinery, vehicle, metal. Really anything that is the reverse of quiet: and when it comes suddenly and unexpectedly; and if it is associated by the sheep with something that it has reason to fear.
A particular metal element in relation to sheep and noise, the sheep bell, has been explored in Norway, in a piece ‘How annoying is it for sheep to wear a bell all summer long?’ by Nancy Bazilchuk (2019), based on an article by Nina Kristiansen. In this it is stated that animal welfare regulations from the Ministry of Agriculture in Norway articulate that ’sheep should not be exposed to unnecessary noise’; also, ’noise levels over 65 decibels are prohibited’. And Inger-Lise Andersen, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, ‘believes that the noise level from bells is above what is comfortable for sheep’.
So, noise, to a sheep, is a sound unliked. It is a therefore a sound which is any or all of: too-loud, unexpected, too on-going, representing something feared or unliked.
Sheep, of course, make sounds: baas and bleats, and some other sounds also. Though in some humans’ minds these will be ‘noise’, obviously to sheep they must be seen as essential sounds - of essential communication. The sounds sheep make are to convey various things, to each other, or to humans, or maybe to other animals.
Some of the noisiest, and very frequent, baaing occurs between ewes and lambs. When lambs are young, a mother and her offspring need to keep in conversation: for the general safety and protection of the lamb, for the lamb to not get separated from its mother, and from its mother’s milk - its nutrition.
Sheep baa to each other: to warn - of a danger, of a new appearance whether friend or foe; to provide information - that food has been brought, and suchlike. A large proportion of baaing appears to represent giving information. Sheep also seem to baa a lot when introduced to a new, unfamiliar, and maybe seen as threatening, situation: for example, being held in pens at a sheep show, or market. This baaing can be expressing fear. Sheep can, too, make a rumbling, grumbling sound to convey displeasure. If caught or trapped in some way, sheep will baa at intervals, and especially if they are aware a human potential-rescuer is in the vicinity or is in hearing distance of them. In the instance, the aim is attracting attention.
Of course, humans can only guess what sheep are saying when they baa; but, with some experience of being with sheep, it is usually possible to ‘get the drift’ of what the sheep is communicating.
What is clear is that the default position of a sheep is to remain silent. They only ‘sound off’ for a reason. They speak when they have something to say, and not otherwise.
There is a major area in which sheep ‘give a sound’, of complete silence: this is when they are unwell and/or pain. Sheep can be very ill but will nonetheless remain quiet. The belief is that sheep follow this course because they do not want to shout vulnerability, and which would draw them to the attention of potential predators. So, they endeavour to conceal their suffering from illness or injury and they silently endure. This makes it challenging for sheep’s human carers to notice an unwell and in pain sheep.
In all, therefore, those caring for sheep need:
to avoid their sheep being subject or victim to noise, loud noise especially;
to do their best to interpret what a sheep is saying by way of its baas, bleats and other sounds;
to be alert always for a sheep’s ‘sound of silence’.
3rd August 2021