Farm animal mortality management — from on-farm emergency euthanasia to rendering and composting — represents a welfare dimension often overlooked but affecting millions of animals annually.
End-of-life welfare on farms receives insufficient attention relative to production-phase welfare. An animal lying down unable to rise, in pain from injury or disease, experiencing prolonged distress while the farm operator deliberates or waits for veterinary assistance, is suffering at a moment when intervention is both possible and obligatory. Emergency euthanasia protocols that are clearly defined, practically achievable, and economically possible for farm staff reduce the duration of end-of-life suffering significantly. Treating emergency euthanasia as a fundamental farm animal welfare competency rather than an occasional emergency requiring external expertise would prevent enormous preventable suffering.