Animals in the industrial animal ag system are subjected to an astonishingly wide range of mutilations and amputations, each one justified with multi-faceted rationales.
Industry sources, most refereed journals, U.S. regulatory agencies, and even veterinary associations regularly assert that these “procedures” promote animal health, protect animals from each other, safeguard human health, and protect workers from the animals.[1-4]
In fact, the mutilations and amputations are implemented for a single overriding purpose: to adapt the anatomy of the animals to fit into the industrial animal ag system, rather than adapt the system to align with the needs of the animals.[5]
As one seasoned academic and anti-CAFO activist stated, “Farm animals did not evolve to live in confinement any more so than humans evolved to live in prisons.”[6] Rather than transform those prison systems for animals, the industry (with society’s tacit approval) has chosen to subject animals to painful physical adaptations that maximize efficiency and profits.
National Pork Board, Swine Care Handbook 2018, Pork Checkoff, p. 17. [“Tail docking is performed to reduce injury, pain, and infection associated with tail biting and reduce the need for treatment.”]
Philip C. Glatz and Greg Underwood (2020) Current methods and techniques of beak trimming laying hens, welfare issues and alternative approaches, Animal Production Science, 61, 968-989, p. 968. [“Beak trimming is used in the egg industry to prevent mortality from cannibalism and minimise injurious pecking, vent pecking, aggressive pecking at the head and all forms of feather pecking…”]
USDA APHIS (May 2020) Beef 2017: Beef Cow-calf Health and Management Practices in the United States, 2017, Report 1, p. 5. [Defines “preconditioning practices” (including castration and dehorning) as “Practices that help a calf become ready to leave the operation of origin and that help reduce the calf’s stress when adjusting to a new location, such as a feedlot.”]
American Veterinary Medical Assoc. (2014) Welfare Implications of Teeth Clipping, Tail Docking and Permanent Identification of Piglets, AVMA Literature Review, p. 4. [“Most invasive procedures performed on piglets are done to protect the welfare of the pigs rather than to improve production.”]
Nordquist, R. et al., (2017). Mutilating procedures, management practices, and housing conditions that may affect the welfare of farm animals: Implications for welfare research. Animals (Basel), 7(2), 12–12, p. 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani7020012 [“Thus, in industrial animal farming animals are altered or ‘adapted’ to meet the constraints caused by their housing conditions and the management practices used.”]
Ikerd, J. (2016). The Inevitable Economic, Ecological, and Social Consequences of CAFOs, p. 14. https://buffaloriveralliance.org/resources/Pictures/Ikerd%20The%20Inevitable%20Economic.pdf
Often, they are. For example, piglets will be castrated and have their tails partially amputated at the same time.[1,2] Calves are often castrated and de-horned or castrated and branded on the same day.[3-5]
Rault, J. L. et al., (2011). Castration induced pain in pigs and other livestock. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 135(3), 214–225, p. 222. [“…castration is rarely carried out in isolation. Depending on the species, the young animal is usually subjected to other painful procedures such as tail-docking, teeth-clipping, branding, dehorning, mulesing, tattooing, ear-tagging, etc. These may be carried out simultaneously or they may be carried out at different times, requiring multiple handling stressors. The effects of different combinations of procedures, orders of procedures, or the number of procedures performed at any one time on the welfare of the individual remain unknown.”]
Nixon, E. et al., (2021) Comparative effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs at castration and tail-docking in neonatal piglets. PloS One, 16(11), e0254409–e0254409, p. 2. [“Castration and tail docking are often performed simultaneously…”]
Coetzee, J. F. (2013). Assessment and management of pain associated with castration in cattle. Vet Clin Food Anim, 29(1), 75-101, p. 76. [“Furthermore, 90% of respondents indicated that they castrate and dehorn cattle at the same time…”]
Sutherland, M. A. et al., (2013). Effect of castration and dehorning singularly or combined on the behavior and physiology of Holstein calves. Journal of Animal Science, 91(2), 935-942, p. 936.
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2012) Cow-Calf Industry Manual, Foreign Animal Disease Preparedness & Response Plan (FAD PReP), p. 16.
The overwhelming majority of farmed animals undergoing mutilations or amputations receive no pain relief during or after these procedures. In fact, the FDA must approve any pain-relief drugs used on farmed animals, and currently there are very few that have received approval.[1-3] For pigs, there are no drugs approved for pain relief “in contrast to other swine producing countries in Europe, that currently have over 20 products specifically approved for pain mitigation in swine.”[4]
Most analgesics or anesthetics used for procedures on animals raised for food are considered “extra-label” for which specific conditions must be met.[5] And these pain medications are rarely used due to costs, record-keeping requirements, and the need for veterinary supervision.[6,7]
Kleinhenz, M. D. et al., (2021). Invited review: on-farm pain management of food production animals. Applied Animal Science, 37(1), 77-87, p. 77. [“Therefore, use of drugs for pain management during elective procedures such as dehorning and castration in cattle, or to provide analgesia in lactating dairy cows and swine, is considered extra-label drug use and is regulated in accordance with the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act.”]
Wagner, B. et. al., (2020). Identifying Barriers to Implementing Pain Management for Piglet Castration: A Focus Group of Swine Veterinarians. Animals (Basel). 0(7): 1202, p. 6. [“To date, the US has no FDA-approved drugs labeled for pain control in pigs.”]
Rault, J. L. et al., (2011). Castration induced pain in pigs and other livestock. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 135(3), 214-225, p. 218. [“For example, there are no analgesics approved in the U.S. for use in production swine and, furthermore, only a few anaesthetics and analgesics are licensed for use in any livestock.”]
Lopez-Soriano, M., et al., (2022). Efficacy of transdermal flunixin in mitigating castration pain in piglets. Frontiers in Pain Research, 3, 1056492, p. 2.
U.S. FDA (2023) Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994 (AMDUCA). https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/guidance-regulations/animal-medicinal-drug-use-clarification-act-1994-amduca
Kleinhenz, M. D. et al., (2021), p. 78.
Rault, J. L. et al., (2011), p. 218. [“Drugs approved for use in a different food animal species can be used extra-label under veterinary supervision and with diligent record-keeping, but this pathway incurs cost, time and effort which may be above and beyond that which many farmers are able to endure.”]
Yes, of course they suffer with both acute and chronic pain. Though their instincts are to hide their pain, common sense along with numerous research studies, many going back decades, confirm the obvious.[1-4]
Steagall, P. V. et al., (2021). Pain Management in Farm Animals: Focus on Cattle, Sheep and Pigs. Animals (Basel), 11(6), 1483–, p. 5. [“Pain recognition in farm animals (i.e., cattle, sheep, and pigs) can be challenging due to their stoic and prey behaviors. Often these animals avoid demonstrating vulnerability as species.”]
Molony, V. & Kent, J. (1997). Assessment of acute pain in farm animals using behavioral and physiological measurements. Journal of Animal Science, 75(1), 266–272.
Prunier, A. et al., (2013). Identifying and monitoring pain in farm animals: a review. Animal (Cambridge, England), 7(6), 998–1010.
European Food Safety Authority (2022) Welfare of pigs on a farm, EFSA Journal, Scientific Opinion, Chapter 6. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/7421 [A review of numerous studies on the impacts of mutilation on pigs]
They are too numerous to detail.
Female beef cattle are often spayed.[1,2] Uncastrated male breeding pigs have their tusks ground down.[3] Some feedlot cattle have their tails amputated.[4] Cattle have growth hormone implants inserted under their skin.[5,6] Dairy cows undergo caesarian births, vaginal inserts, and embryo implants.[7] Some cattle have their nasal septum drilled for nose rings.[8]
Sheep, goats and ducks and every other farmed animal are subject to a host of painful procedures, almost always without pain alleviation.
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. 112.
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. 212.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021), p. 224.
Kroll, L. K. et al., (2014). Effects of tail docking on health and performance of beef cattle in confined, slatted-floor feedlots. Journal of Animal Science, 92(9), 4108–4114.
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2013) The Use of Growth-Promoting Implants in U.S. Feedlots.
North Dakota State Univ. (2023) Expect changes in the use of growth-promoting implants in beef cattle. https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/newsreleases/2023/may/expect-changes-in-the-use-of-growth-promoting-implants-in-beef-cattle
USDA Animal and Plant health Inspection Service (2018) Health and Management Practices on U.S. Dairy Operations, 2014, Report 3.
Temple Grandin (ed.) (2021), p. 215.