Assessing pain in farm animals is both a scientific and welfare challenge, and advances in pain assessment tools are improving our ability to recognize and respond to suffering on farms.
The history of farm animal pain management reflects a combination of economic pressure and a persistent underestimation of animal sentience. Procedures that would be unacceptable without analgesia in companion animals — dehorning, castration, tail docking — are routinely performed without pain relief on farm animals of the same species in agricultural settings. This is not because farm animals feel pain less acutely, but because the economic incentives and regulatory requirements differ. Advances in validated pain assessment tools are gradually building the evidence base for regulatory change.