How to recognise pain in cattle using validated assessment tools and why better pain recognition improves welfare in both beef and dairy systems.
Pain recognition in cattle has historically been limited by both the animals' natural concealment of weakness and by cultural attitudes that questioned whether cattle experience pain similarly to companion animals. Validated tools like the Bovine Grimace Scale have changed this by providing objective, reproducible methods for pain assessment that correlate with known pain states. More importantly, these tools can be used in field conditions by stockpeople without specialist veterinary training. The gap between recognising pain and treating it remains significant in many commercial operations: effective analgesics exist for cattle but are not routinely used for common painful procedures like dehorning and castration. Closing this gap is both achievable and welfare-transformative.