Typical procedures performed on cattle raised for meat include castration, disbudding, dehorning, branding, ear tagging, ear notching, and sometimes tail docking.[1,2] Castration and dehorning are part of a group of procedures commonly referred to as “preconditioning practices.”[3]
USDA (May 2020) Beef 2017: Beef Cow-calf Health and Management Practices in the United States, 2017, Report 1, p. 22-30, 211-225.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021) Painful Husbandry Procedures in Livestock and Poultry. In Improving animal welfare: a practical approach, 3rd ed., CAB International, Boston, MA, p. 199 and Table 6.1 p. 190. [“Cattle are subjected to five common painful husbandry procedures: disbudding, dehorning, castration, branding, and ear notching or tagging.”]
USDA (May 2020) Beef 2017, p. 5.
Approximately 97% of all slaughtered male beef cattle have been castrated at some point before slaughter.[1]
USDA NASS (2024) Livestock Slaughter 2023 Summary, ISSN: 0499-0544 p. 17.
[Steers (castrated males) slaughtered for human food consumption in 2023 = 15,075,500. Bulls = 531,500. 15,075,500 / 15,075,500 + 531,500 = 96.6% in 2023. In 2022 the figure was 96.7%]
Approximately 15 million.[1] On average, about 60,000 cattle are castrated nationwide each workday of the year, or about 125 per minute.
USDA NASS (April 2024) Livestock Slaughter 2023 Summary ISSN: 0499-0544 p. 17. [Note: In 2023 about 15.1 million steers (castrated males) were slaughtered for human food consumption. Of the 3.8 million cattle that died before slaughter, most were either male dairy calves that were killed or rendered, “spent” dairy cows, or beef breeding cows that were too lame or diseased to be slaughtered for human food consumption. The 3.8 million does probably include several hundred thousand males who underwent castration and died before slaughter.]
In the beef cattle industry, males are castrated at any age from 1 day to a year old.[1,2] The average age of a bull calf at castration is 69 days, and about three-quarters of all calves are castrated before 3 months. In general, commercial operations with larger herds perform the castration at an earlier age.[3]
The wide age range is due to a belief among some producers that waiting to castrate bulls results in greater weight gain, though many reports refute this.[4,5] And studies have shown that castration at a later age elicits greater stress and physiological responses than at an earlier age.[6]
Ratcliff, M. D. et al., (2014). Effect of method and timing of castration on newly arrived stocker cattle. The Professional Animal Scientist, 30(4), 457-465, p. 457.
Ashley McFarland, Cornell Cooperative Extensions (2019) Why is early castration on bull calves important? https://cnydfc.cce.cornell.edu/submission.php?id=810
USDA (May 2020) Beef 2017: Beef Cow-calf Health and Management Practices in the United States, 2017, Report 1, p. 30.
Jeff Robe, Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (2022) When is the right time to castrate bulls? https://www.drovers.com/news/beef-production/when-right-time-castrate-bulls [“There is a perceived notion that intact bulls have an advantage in body weight gains during the preweaning period and post greater weaning weights than calves castrated at or near birth.”]
American Veterinary Medical Assoc. (2014) Literature Review on the Welfare Implications of Castration of Cattle, p. 4. [“Delaying castration conveys no benefit in terms of carcass weight…”]
Imler, A., et al., (2014) Effect of Age at Castration on Beef Calf Performance, Department of Animal Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, p. 2. [“As the beef industry focuses more on the principles of animal welfare and the economics of efficiency, producers may find that the supposed benefits of delayed castration are far outweighed by its drawbacks.”]
There are several methods. The most common is surgical castration which “entails removing the distal scrotal wall and then either pulling the testicles and spermatic cords until the latter break or cutting through the spermatic cords.”[1] Other methods include the application of a constricting elastic band (rubber ring) at the base of the scrotum, or castration by the use of external clamping with an appropriate device (i.e., Burdizzo clamp), both of which cut off blood supply.[2,3]
Combinations of physical methods are also be used, such as application of a clamp followed by rubber ring placement and surgical removal of scrotal tissue several days after application of a rubber ring.[4]
Also in limited use is hormonal castration (immunocastration) involving injection of immuncontraceptives to decrease production of hormones. This has shown to be effective for about 6 months and requires repeat injections. However, it is not widely used because of “lack of product approvals, the need for repeated injection, and the risk of human health implications due to vaccine exposure.”[5]
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021) Painful Husbandry Procedures in Livestock and Poultry. In Improving animal welfare: a practical approach, 3rd ed., CAB International, Boston, MA, p. 199 and Table 6.1 p. 206.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021), pp. 206 – 211.
American Veterinary Medical Assoc. (2014) Literature Review on the Welfare Implications of Castration of Cattle, p. 1.
Literature Review on the Welfare Implications of Castration of Cattle, p. 1.
Kleinhenz, M.D. et al., (2021). Invited Review: On-farm pain management of food production animals, Applied Animal Science, 37(1), 77-78, p. 80.
Yes, of course. The American Veterinary Medical Association notes that cattle “exhibit pain responses during and after castration; these responses include struggling, kicking the hind legs, tail swishing, foot stamping, head turning, restlessness, stilted gait, reduced activity, increased recumbency, abnormal standing posture, reduced interest in dams and each other and reduced grazing and feed intake.”[1] There is evidence that when the procedure is done on older calves, it causes even greater pain and stress, and incurs more complications.[2,3]
Despite the obvious pain inflicted, castration “is commonly performed without the use of analgesia, one reason being the lack of available approved analgesics.”[4] Moreover, “industry-driven policies are still limited and variable across procedures and conditions, likely influencing the adoption of pain mitigation practices by veterinarians and producers alike.”[5]
When castration is done along with other “preconditioning” procedures such as dehorning, naturally the pain increases.[6] In a 2010 survey of U.S. veterinarians, 92% indicated that they dehorn calves at the same time as castrations.[7]
American Veterinary Medical Assoc. (2014) Literature Review on the Welfare Implications of Castration of Cattle, p. 2.
Literature Review on the Welfare Implications of Castration of Cattle, pp. 2-4.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021) Painful Husbandry Procedures in Livestock and Poultry. In Improving animal welfare: a practical approach, 3rd ed., CAB International, Boston, MA, p. 194.
Bergamasco, L. et al., (2021). Unmitigated Surgical Castration in Calves of Different Ages: Cortisol Concentrations, Heart Rate Variability, and Infrared Thermography Findings. Animals (Basel), 11(9), 2719, p. 1.
Edwards-Callaway, L. N., et al., (2023). A nationwide survey on producer and veterinarian perceptions of the painfulness of procedures and disease states in dairy and beef cattle. Frontiers in Pain Research, 4, 1059224, p. 2.
Literature Review on the Welfare Implications of Castration of Cattle, p. 2.[“Pain response to tandem or simultaneous castration and dehorning has been found to be additive.”]
Coetzee, J. F. et al., (2010). A survey of castration methods and associated livestock management practices performed by bovine veterinarians in the United States. BMC Veterinary Research, 6(1), 12, p. 16.
The terms disbudding and dehorning are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings.
Disbudding is a method of removing horns in calves up to 6-8 weeks old when horn buds are 2-4 inches long.[1] The three primary methods used are: (a) amputation using a knife or “scoop dehorner,” (b) use of a hot iron (cautery disbudding) “placed against the horn bud and rotated for sufficient time to destroy the horn bud germinal tissue,” and (c) application of a caustic chemical paste such as potassium hydroxide rubbed onto the horn bud, usually used on calves before 2 days of age.[2]
The American Veterinary Medical Association recommends disbudding before the horns attach to the skull at around 8 weeks of age.[3]
Dehorning is the amputation of horns using any of a variety of tools, including saws, wire, guillotine shears, and scoops.[4]
Both disbudding and dehorning are understood to be very painful. Hot-iron disbudding, for example, leads to “extreme escape behavior.” And “cutting horns from mature animals may be more painful than most other procedures.” Hemorrhage after dehorning is common; wounds can take several weeks to heal and lead to infections, and more severe outcomes are not unusual.[5]
A recent review of studies on pain management found that producers and veterinarians were more likely to use pain relief medicine for disbudding or dehorning than for castration.[6]
Tucker, C. B. et al., (2015). Beef cattle welfare in the USA: identification of priorities for future research. Animal Health Research Reviews, 16(2), 107–124, p. 111.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021) Painful Husbandry Procedures in Livestock and Poultry. In Improving animal welfare: a practical approach, 3rd ed., CAB International, Boston, MA, p. 199-203.
American Veterinary Medical Assoc. (2012) AVMA Policies, Bovine disbudding and dehorning https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/avma-policies/bovine-disbudding-dishorning
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021), pp. 199-204.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021), pp. 202-204 [“Guillotine shears are easy to use but if the head shifts during the procedure, the wound may be larger than required and the frontal bone may fracture, resulting in exposure of the underlying sinus cavities.”]
Edwards-Callaway, L. N., et al., (2023). A nationwide survey on producer and veterinarian perceptions of the painfulness of procedures and disease states in dairy and beef cattle. Frontiers in Pain Research, 4, 1059224, p. 10. [“These results across studies highlight the importance of the relationship between pain perception and provision of analgesia.”]
In the commercial beef cattle industry, producers are breeding animals to reduce the population with horns. Some beef breeds (e.g., Angus) do not grow horns. In 2017, 8% of calves had horns or were expected to grow horns.
In the same year, of those calves having (or expected to have) horns, 44% were expected to be dehorned. The percentage of those expected to be dehorned in larger herds (200 or more) rose to 62%.[1]
USDA (May 2020) Beef 2017: Beef Cow-calf Health and Management Practices in the United States, 2017, Report 1, pp. 20-22.
Hot-iron branding and freeze branding are widely used to identify cattle. Hot-iron branding is considered “obviously painful,” causing “escape behavior,” and is more painful than freeze branding where irons are first immersed in liquid nitrogen.[1] Hot-iron branding takes at least 8 weeks to heal,[2] and “little work has been done on reducing the pain caused by these procedures.”[3]
Hot-iron branding is the most common form of identification for cattle. The USDA reported that in 2017 an estimated 48% of beef cows were hot-iron branded, with that percentage increasing to 78% in large operations (200 or more head). An estimated 7% of cattle were freeze branded; that percentage increased to 13% in large operations.[4]
In addition to branding, cattle endure a wide range of mutilations for identification purposes, including permanent ear tags affixed through the ear as well as ear cuttings. About 38% of cattle wear ear tags that confirm vaccination status. About 72% wear other plastic ear tag identification. About 16% undergo cuts to the ear, called ear notching. An estimated 9% have ear tattoos.[5]
Many cattle have multiple types of identification. And in April 2024, the USDA finalized a rule that requires electronic ID (RIFD tags) to be used on dairy and beef cattle crossing state lines.[6]
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021) Painful Husbandry Procedures in Livestock and Poultry. In Improving animal welfare: a practical approach, 3rd ed., CAB International, Boston, MA, p. 214
Tucker, C. B. et al., (2014). Pain sensitivity and healing of hot-iron cattle brands. Journal of Animal Science, 92(12), 5674–5682, p. 17.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021), p. 214.
USDA (May 2020) Beef 2017: Beef Cow-calf Health and Management Practices in the United States, 2017, Report 1, pp. 216-217.
USDA (May 2020) Beef 2017, p. 216.
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (April 26, 2024) APHIS Bolsters Animal Disease Traceability in the United States. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/aphis-bolsters-animal-disease-traceability-united-states