Adequate pain management for routine and emergency farm animal procedures remains inconsistent globally. Improving access to and use of analgesics represents one of the highest impact welfare improvements available to farmers and vets.
The historical underuse of analgesics in farm animal medicine represents a major ongoing welfare deficit. Procedures causing clear pain in companion animals are routinely performed without pain relief on millions of farm animals due to cost, convenience, and cultural norms. The financial cost argument is largely undermined by the low cost of available analgesics relative to the value of individual animals and the documented production benefits of pain management. Inadequate pain management causes unnecessary acute suffering and may increase chronic pain and stress responses affecting long-term welfare and productivity. Veterinary education improvement, farmer incentive programmes, and regulatory requirements for pain relief during defined procedures have all contributed to progress in some jurisdictions.