Dehorning and disbudding of cattle causes significant pain and is one of the most common yet contested husbandry procedures in beef and dairy farming.
Dehorning and disbudding cause severe acute pain and, without adequate ongoing analgesia, prolonged post-procedural pain lasting days or weeks. Despite decades of welfare research demonstrating the pain involved, the procedure continues to be performed without adequate pain relief in many farming systems globally. The availability of polled genetics that breed cattle without horns means there is now a viable long-term alternative to routine dehorning, eliminating the welfare harm at its source rather than mitigating it. Transitioning to polled genetics requires breeding programme investment but represents the only true solution to dehorning welfare. In the interim, universal requirement for pre- and post-procedural analgesia under veterinary oversight represents the minimum acceptable standard.