On-farm euthanasia of farm animals is a welfare critical skill that is frequently performed inadequately, causing preventable suffering.
On-farm euthanasia welfare failures cause some of the most prolonged individual animal suffering in agriculture. Animals that should be euthanized may be left for days while treatment is attempted for conditions with poor prognosis, or delayed for economic reasons. When euthanasia is finally performed, inadequate equipment or technique may fail to produce immediate unconsciousness. The welfare case for prompt, competent euthanasia when an animal cannot be adequately managed or transported is clear — the alternative is prolonged suffering. Requiring euthanasia training, equipment, and decision-making protocols on farms creates infrastructure that reduces suffering when emergency situations arise.