Dehorning and disbudding of cattle cause significant acute pain and are performed on tens of millions of calves annually, often without pain relief. Polled genetics offer an effective, welfare-positive alternative.
Dehorning and disbudding cause severe acute pain that is well-documented by behavioural, physiological, and pharmacological evidence. The hot-iron disbudding procedure without anaesthesia causes immediate, intense pain that persists for hours to days as inflammation develops. Despite the availability of local anaesthesia and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, surveys consistently show that a large proportion of cattle farmers do not use pain relief for routine disbudding, often citing cost and practicality. This represents a large-scale, preventable welfare harm. The existence of polled genetics — cattle bred to be naturally hornless — offers a complete long-term solution, but breed uptake requires sustained commitment from breeding companies, producers, and industry standards.