Adequate pain management in farm animals is an achievable welfare improvement, but uptake of analgesics for routine painful procedures and disease treatment remains inconsistent across the industry.
Farm animal pain management is a genuine welfare frontier where practical improvements are achievable with existing veterinary tools. Analgesics - particularly NSAIDs like meloxicam - are effective, safe, and available for most common farm animal painful procedures. However, cost, time, and residual cultural attitudes that minimise animal pain continue to limit uptake. Research consistently shows that providing pain relief improves productivity outcomes as well as welfare, providing a business case alongside the ethical case. Vet-farmer relationships that normalise pain management conversations, combined with subsidy schemes that offset analgesic costs, could rapidly improve pain management in farm animals at scale.