Routine cattle procedures including dehorning, castration, and calving cause significant pain that is often left untreated. Providing effective analgesia is both an ethical obligation and increasingly a regulatory requirement.
The provision of pain management for routine cattle procedures has improved significantly in recent years, driven by welfare science, regulatory pressure, and changing stockperson attitudes. However, implementation in practice still lags behind best-practice guidance in many countries and production systems. The welfare case for analgesia is unambiguous: untreated procedural pain causes acute suffering, elevates cortisol, suppresses immune function, and reduces feed intake in ways measurable for days after the event. Economic analysis consistently shows that the cost of analgesics is justified by improved recovery and performance. Veterinary leadership in establishing pain management protocols and stockperson training in recognizing and responding to pain are the most effective drivers of improvement at farm level.