Dehorning adult cattle and disbudding calves are routine procedures that cause significant pain when performed without analgesia. Improved pain management is a tractable welfare priority.
Dehorning and disbudding cause acute pain that is well-documented through behavioral and physiological measures. Calves that are disbudded without analgesia show pain behaviors — head shaking, ear flicking, and reduced activity — for hours after the procedure. Adult cattle dehorned without pain relief show even stronger pain responses. The solution is straightforward and inexpensive: local anesthetic cornual nerve block plus NSAID analgesic costs very little and substantially reduces procedural and post-procedural pain. The implementation gap reflects inertia and normalization of a painful practice rather than any technical barrier. Polled genetics represent a longer-term solution eliminating the need for the procedure entirely.