Dehorning and disbudding are among the most painful routine procedures in cattle farming. Evidence-based pain management and genetic polled breeding offer pathways to eliminate unnecessary suffering.
Disbudding causes intense, predictable pain that is now well-documented and largely preventable through combination analgesia. The continuing performance of this procedure without pain relief - still occurring in many farming contexts - represents an unjustifiable welfare failure given the available evidence and accessible medications. At the same time, even optimally managed disbudding causes some welfare cost that polled breeding can eliminate entirely. Accelerating selection for polled genetics - and overcoming consumer and regulatory barriers to gene-edited polled cattle - offers the most complete welfare solution. In the interim, mandatory pain management protocols enforced through welfare auditing represent the most impactful near-term intervention.