Pain recognition in livestock has historically been poor, leading to untreated suffering. New assessment tools are improving the identification and treatment of pain in farm animals.
For decades, the agricultural industry operated under assumptions that farm animals felt less pain than companion animals or had adapted to painful conditions. We now know these assumptions were wrong — livestock show consistent pain behaviors, physiological stress responses, and behavioral changes when in pain that closely parallel those of humans. Grimace scales developed for cattle, pigs, and sheep allow systematic pain scoring even by non-veterinary farm staff. Despite these tools, analgesic use in livestock remains low due to cost, regulatory barriers on analgesic access, and cultural norms. Improving pain recognition and treatment in livestock is one of the highest-impact welfare interventions available, affecting billions of animals.