Tusk removal or reduction in farmed boars is performed to reduce injury risk to other pigs and farm workers, but the procedure causes pain and requires appropriate pain management when performed.
Tusk removal causes genuine acute pain that is preventable through appropriate analgesia. The procedure is typically justified on safety grounds — for both other pigs and farm workers — and this justification has some merit in systems with intact boar contact. However, like all painful procedures performed on farmed animals, the welfare obligation is to minimise pain through local anaesthesia and systemic analgesia rather than performing the procedure without pain relief. Farms using AI rather than natural service can often avoid tusk removal entirely by keeping boars in separate facilities. Moving toward AI systems not only benefits boar welfare but also reduces injury risks across the herd.