Calf disbudding – animal welfare considerations

Disbudding, removal of the horn buds, is performed for economic and practical reasons: to prevent bullying and injury to other animals (with implications for productivity and carcass damage, respectively) and human safety during handling. Mitigation of pain associated with the disbudding of calves is necessary to limit the pain-stress response that induces altered behavioural and physiologic states. The most common recommendation in Animal Welfare Guidelines is to disbud calves before they attain 2 months of age. From birth to 2 months of age the horn bud is not attached to the skull, which makes the removal of the horn bud and adjacent cells easier. The objectives of this review are to describe (1) the different methods of disbudding, (2) the pain responses associated with each of those methods and (3) how age and pain mitigation strategies affect those responses.