Many routine farm animal procedures cause significant pain but are performed without anaesthesia or analgesia. Expanding pain management is a major welfare opportunity.
Routine farm management procedures including castration, dehorning, disbudding, tail docking, and teeth clipping cause acute pain that can be substantially reduced with available anaesthetics and analgesics. The historical reluctance to use pain management in farm settings reflects cost concerns, regulatory gaps, and cultural attitudes about farm animal pain. Evidence increasingly shows that pain management improves production outcomes — reduced stress hormones, better growth rates, and lower mortality — providing commercial justification alongside welfare rationale. Regulatory requirements for pain relief at routine procedures are expanding in many jurisdictions, and veterinary and producer education programs are demonstrating that adoption is feasible and beneficial.