Dehorning of adult cattle causes severe acute and post-procedural pain, and animal welfare science strongly supports both prevention through disbudding calves and pain management when adult dehorning is necessary.
Adult cattle dehorning is one of the most painful routine procedures in livestock production and is essentially preventable through two approaches: early calf disbudding with appropriate pain management, or selection of polled genetics. When adult dehorning is unavoidable, the welfare evidence is unambiguous - local anaesthesia and post-operative NSAIDs are not optional extras but minimum ethical requirements. Performing adult dehorning without pain control is a major welfare failure that regulatory bodies are increasingly recognising through mandatory analgesia requirements. The long-term solution lies in breeding away from horned genetics.