Tail docking practices in sheep and cattle are performed to prevent disease or injury, but the welfare evidence for routine docking is mixed, and alternatives are available.
Tail docking welfare evidence is genuinely mixed for sheep, where flystrike prevention benefits must be weighed against docking pain, and clear for cattle, where routine docking has been shown to provide no measurable health benefit. For sheep, the welfare trade-off depends on flystrike risk in the specific production system - in high-risk areas, the prevention benefit may outweigh the acute docking pain if performed with pain relief. Cattle tail docking bans reflect the evidence that it causes pain without health benefit. For all species, pain relief should be standard practice when docking is performed, and alternatives including breed selection and husbandry improvements should be prioritized.