Castration and dehorning are routine procedures in beef production that cause significant pain to cattle. Improving pain management for these procedures is one of the most straightforward and impactful welfare improvements available to the beef industry.
The welfare case for routine analgesia in cattle castration and dehorning is scientifically overwhelming and economically defensible. Both procedures cause significant acute pain confirmed by cortisol elevation, pain grimace scale changes, reduced feeding and activity, and altered social behaviour lasting hours to days post-procedure. Local anaesthesia blocks the acute pain of the procedure itself; NSAIDs provide multi-hour post-procedural pain control addressing the prolonged pain that follows. Despite this evidence and the low cost of available drugs, adoption remains inconsistent across the beef industry — particularly in North America and Australia where mandatory requirements are absent. The "do it early" approach — performing procedures on neonates where pain may be perceived as less significant — reduces some welfare concerns but does not eliminate pain and creates neonatal stress at a vulnerable period. Mandatory analgesia requirements represent the most direct regulatory pathway to welfare improvement for the hundreds of millions of animals undergoing these procedures annually.