The hidden risk of moving sheep and goats

At dawn, markets begin to stir. Trucks arrive from distant villages. Farmers guide sheep and goats through narrow streets. Buyers inspect animals, negotiate prices and prepare for the journey home. For many families, this moment represents hope: an animal sold can mean school fees paid, food on the table or money set aside for the next season. For those choosing a sheep or goat for a celebration, it is also a source of pride and recognition within the community. 

Around the world, an estimated 330 million people depend on small ruminants – sheep and goats – for their livelihoods and food security. These animals are central to family farming systems, particularly in marginalised communities. They provide meat and milk, but also wool and leather for clothing and manure for crops. In many regions, women play a key role in their care and management, making small ruminant farming an important pathway to financial independence and family wellbeing. 

Yet behind this familiar scene lies a less visible reality. The movement of animals, essential as it is for trade and survival, also creates opportunities for disease to spread. The risk of moving sheep and goats is rarely obvious to buyers or sellers, but it shapes the health of flocks and the stability of markets. 

A journey that connects farms and markets

Sheep and goats are among the most mobile domestic animals in the world. Herders move them in search of pasture and water through seasonal migrations known as transhumance, travel long distances to reach markets, and trade them across regions and borders. Each journey brings animals from different herds into close contact. A healthy-looking sheep may have picked up an infection days earlier without showing signs. Stress from transport, crowding and changes in feed can weaken its defences and make it more likely to pass an illness on to others.

In some countries, surveys of livestock markets have shown just how intense these movements can be, with thousands of animals changing hands over short periods of time. When animals move quickly and often, it becomes difficult to know where they came from or where they will go next. If disease appears, tracing its path can be like trying to follow footprints in sand.

Certain infections take particular advantage of this mobility. Peste des petits ruminants, a highly contagious disease of sheep and goats, can spread rapidly along trade routes and wipe out entire flocks. Foot and mouth disease affects all cloven-hoofed animals and can disrupt both local markets and international trade, for which sheep and goats can be silent carriers. Some diseases, like brucellosis, can also affect humans. For households that depend on only a few animals, the loss of a flock can mean the loss of income, food and a sense of security.

These impacts extend beyond individual farmers. When outbreaks occur, they can destabilise supply chains, raise food prices and place heavy demands on Veterinary Services. The consequences are felt not only in rural areas but also in towns and cities where people rely on steady access to animal products.

Protecting livelihoods by protecting animal health 

For this reason, animal health experts increasingly focus on understanding how and why animals move. Mapping routes between farms, markets and grazing areas helps identify where risks are highest. Monitoring animal health at key gathering points makes it easier to detect problems early. Vaccination and basic animal identification and traceability systems can further reduce the chances that disease will travel unnoticed.

The World Organisation for Animal Health and its partners have highlighted these links between movement and disease spread, not to discourage trade or long-standing practices, but to make them safer by facilitating animal movement control. The aim is not to stop animals from moving, but to ensure that their journeys do not carry hidden threats.

Small ruminants are more than commodities. They are savings accounts on four legs, sources of nourishment and symbols of resilience for millions of families. They support women’s economic participation and help households weather difficult times. Their value is measured not only in money, but in stability and dignity.

When a sheep or goat begins a journey, it carries more than its own weight. It carries the hopes of the household that raised it and, sometimes, the risk of disease if safeguards are not in place. Understanding this connection is not just a technical matter. It is about protecting livelihoods, strengthening food systems and ensuring that the movement of animals remains a source of opportunity rather than vulnerability.

Achieving this requires shared responsibility. Farmers, traders and Veterinary Services all play a role in keeping animals healthy as they move — by exchanging information, applying basic biosecurity measures and responding quickly when risks emerge. By paying attention to how animals travel, and by supporting practices that keep them healthy along the way, everyone can help ensure that these journeys remain a path to prosperity instead of a pathway for disease.