Castration of male calves, lambs, and piglets is routine in animal agriculture, but most procedures are performed without adequate pain management despite the availability of effective alternatives.
Castration causes unambiguous pain — this is established by decades of research using cortisol, behaviour, and validated pain scale measures. The persistence of routine castration without pain management reflects cost considerations, tradition, and the absence of regulatory requirements — not scientific uncertainty about whether the animals suffer. Effective pain management tools are available: local anaesthetics, NSAIDs, and alternative techniques like immunocastration that eliminate surgical pain entirely. The welfare case for pain management is clear; the barriers are economic and cultural rather than technical. Progressive producers, retailers, and certification bodies that require pain management are demonstrating it is viable in commercial systems.