Tail docking in cattle and lambs is performed routinely in some countries, with welfare science providing clear evidence that the practice causes pain and should be minimised.
Tail docking welfare evidence is clear: the procedure causes acute pain, and banding methods cause prolonged pain during necrosis and sloughing. In lambs, the justification is hygiene and flystrike reduction — but evidence suggests that tails docked too short increase flystrike vulnerability rather than reducing it. The welfare-optimal approach in lambs is to dock to appropriate length with analgesic provision, rather than very short docking without pain relief. Cattle tail docking has no welfare justification and is rightly banned in the UK.