Dairy Veterinarians Attitudes Regarding Cattle
New Zealand dairy cattle practitioners have similar attitudes toward pain in cattle as their colleagues from the United Kingdom and Europe, according to this study from Massey University in New Zealand.
The procedures considered to be the most painful to cattle by New Zealand veterinarians include claw amputation, Caesarean section, and surgery for left-displaced abomasum. The least painful procedures were mastitis with milk clots only and the effect on a calf of dystocia.
Female respondents and recent graduates gave higher pain scores for most conditions. The effect of either background or time spent treating cattle on pain score was less significant than the effect of age and gender.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19649015