Dehorning causes significant acute pain in cattle - polled genetics and mandatory analgesia are transforming the welfare landscape for this routine procedure.
Dehorning without pain management is an unnecessarily painful procedure that welfare science has clearly condemned. Local anaesthetic nerve blocks and NSAIDs are effective, affordable, and widely recommended but not universally used. The long-term welfare solution is polled genetics - breeding from naturally hornless cattle eliminates the welfare problem at source. European countries have made significant progress in both mandating pain relief and increasing polled sire use. Supporting these advances through consumer choices and policy advocacy drives welfare improvement.