Pain management in farm animals remains inadequate compared to companion animals, with cost and regulatory barriers limiting the use of analgesics for routine painful procedures.
Pain management represents the most immediate and actionable welfare improvement available to livestock producers. The procedures routinely performed on billions of farm animals annually — castration of piglets and calves, dehorning of cattle and goats, tail docking of pigs and sheep, beak trimming of poultry — all cause acute and sometimes lasting pain that is now documented with sophisticated behavioral and physiological measures. The barriers to analgesic use are primarily economic and regulatory rather than scientific: the science showing that these procedures cause pain is unambiguous, and effective analgesic options are available and inexpensive relative to the value of the animals treated. Local anesthesia plus post-procedure analgesics can be provided for under a dollar per animal in many cases. Veterinary organizations have been the primary advocates for mandatory pain relief requirements, with success in several European countries.