The dairy sheep, vital to the Mediterranean economy, struggles to balance productivity, sustainability, and animal welfare, especially in extensive, small-scale systems. Precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies offer new opportunities by enabling continuous, non-invasive, and data-driven monitoring across diverse farming conditions. Despite rapid progress in sensors, computer vision, wearable devices, and artificial intelligence (AI), a comprehensive synthesis focused on dairy sheep remains limited. This review provides an updated overview of PLF applications in dairy sheep farming, based on a literature review. The 2018–2025 timeframe was chosen to capture recent advances in Internet of Things (IoT), AI, and sensor technologies that have achieved practical relevance only in recent years. The review identifies core technological domains such as automated weight and body condition monitoring, biometric identification, wearable and IoT-based sensors, localization systems, behavioral and thermal monitoring, virtual fencing, drone-assisted herding, and advanced decision-support tools. Innovations including lightweight deep-learning models, multimodal sensing frameworks, and digital twins highlight the growing potential for scalable, real-time applications. While technological progress is substantial, practical adoption is hindered by economic, technical, interoperability, and ethical barriers. This review consolidates current evidence and identifies future priorities to guide the development of integrated, welfare-focused PLF solutions for dairy sheep farming.

Shearing is a stressful procedure for sheep, combining isolation, restraint, and the mechanical action of shearing, which activates the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and induces oxidative stress. This study investigated whether melatonin—a pleiotropic hormone with well-documented antioxidant properties—administration could modulate the stress response and oxidative stress in Sarda sheep during shearing. Forty lactating ewes (aged 3–5 years, mean body weight 41 ± 1.1 kg) were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 10 each): two groups received a subcutaneous melatonin implant (18 mg); two remained untreated as controls. Within each category, one group was shorn and the other subjected only to restraint. Blood samples were collected before, during, and after shearing to measure cortisol, glucose, reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs), biological antioxidant potential (BAP), and oxidative stress index (OSI). Procedures elevated cortisol, glucose, ROMs, and OSI in all groups, but melatonin treatment significantly reduced these parameters and increased BAP relative to untreated animals at all sampling points (p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed between shorn and unshorn animals within the same treatment, suggesting that the handling, restraint, and isolation associated with the shearing procedure represent the major sources of stress, rather than the mechanical act of shearing itself. In conclusion, melatonin administration blunts the stress response and reduces oxidative stress in sheep during routine shearing-related handling procedures, suggesting its potential as a practical tool to improve animal welfare during routine management practices.