Dairy Farmers Perspectives On Dehorning: A Case Study In Brazil
Most dairy calves undergo a process called “dehorning” early in their lives, something that regulators recommend to “ensure the safety of handlers” as well as to reduce instances of aggression and injury between cows living together on a farm. Dehorning is difficult to witness and it is widely acknowledged to be a painful procedure to the extent that veterinary organizations recommend pain management, depending on how the procedure is done. What’s more, as public concern for animal welfare grows, the practice of dehorning would seem to become less acceptable. We can safely assume that calves don’t like the process and it appears the general public would not like dehorning if they had to witness it. What do farmers think?
This study looked at the practice of dehorning and examined the attitudes of farmers in Brazil as a case study. The research was conducted through in-depth interviews with farmers across 31 farms in 16 municipalities. They selected farms where dairy production was a primary source of income and that had a dedicated watering system, which was considered evidence of an investment in some level of animal welfare. The main reason farmers gave for dehorning was aggression issues that might arise in later years. The concern was that horns could injure cows generally, and more specifically “hurt their udders (or surrounding area), or cause abortions.” This is especially problematic for dairy farms because pregnancy is required for continued milk production. Interestingly, many farmers noted that aggression between cows had become a more noticeable problem as herd sizes have grown. Perhaps most remarkably, some farmers spoke of the pain of the procedure in human terms:
The animals are just like us, it must hurt (Farmer 17, male)
Yes, they must feel [pain], because the only difference between an animal and a person, in my view, is the way they walk (…) (Farmer 32, male)
Still, the farmers ultimately viewed dehorning positively, even looking at it as a “recent innovation” and “considered it a necessary component for advancement or modernization of their production systems.” Likewise, some farmers believed that cows only suffered pain from the procedure when they were adults, not as young calves.
As food production systems around the world continue to move towards a Western model of intense animal agriculture, the practices that support those Western models come with them. In this case, farmers conduct the procedure with a largely misinformed view of the pain it causes and how that pain could be avoided, or at least minimized. There are opportunities for animal advocacy in such cases, including trying to advocate for “better” (i.e., less painful) methods and trying to get the practice banned altogether.