A Meat and Dairy Article from All-Creatures.org

Disbudding and Dehorning of Exploited Cows and Bulls

From VeganFTA
November 2024

Many cows and bulls no longer have full-grown horns, not because they have been born this way, but because they were removed by 'dehorning' or prevented from growing with disbudding, both painful procedures, performed with no anaesthetic of course.

The industries that exploit cows and bulls harbour many dark secrets, but some of the most overlooked and disturbing practices are disbudding and dehorning. These mutilation-like activities are just two of many similar cruel procedures inflicted on farm animals, including tail docking, beak trimming, and castration. These painful procedures are routinely performed on dairy farms, meat farms, or bullfighting farms, often without adequate pain relief, and serve yet another compelling reason to reject animal exploitation.

Disbudding is the process of removing the horn buds from young calves before they grow into fully formed horns. Typically done in calves under two months old, it can involve burning, caustic pastes, or surgical removal. This is done to prevent the growth of horns to make handling the animals "safer" for farm workers, prevent injuries among animals in the crowded conditions they are kept in, and streamline space in intensive farming operations.

The most common methods of disbudding are: Hot iron cauterization (a 600-degree hot iron is pressed against the calf's skull, burning through nerves and blood vessels effectively killing the cells that would otherwise develop into horns), and caustic paste (a chemical paste, often made of caustic soda, that burns through tissue applied to the horn buds essentially chemically burning the tissue away over time). In some farms, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and sedatives (in the UK often xylazine) may be applied before the procedure.

In the overcrowded conditions of animal factories, horns can cause more injuries than in the wild. Close confinement, stressed animals, and lack of natural behaviour outlets may lead to more aggressive encounters and injuries. Therefore, the removal of the animals' horns is a problem farms are causing by trying to solve another problem they have already caused (forcing animals to live in unnatural captive conditions).

Dehorning is the total or partial removal of the horns once they are grown, so this is typically performed in adults. In animal agriculture, this may be done for medical reasons, usually as a last resort if there is an injury, they are growing into the skin or posing serious danger, but in the entertainment industry (like bullfighting or rodeos) it may be done to reduce the risk of humans being injured during spectacles where bulls are distressed, exhausted, injured, or killed for entertainment or celebration. Dr William Muir, a professor of animal sciences at Purdue University, describes dehorning as "a bloody and painful process that no one likes to do."

What Is Wrong with Disbudding and Dehorning

A baby calf endures disbudding by hot iron Credit Iowa State University

Dehorning and disbudding cause intense pain and distress to the animals. Because of this, local anaesthesia may be used, and while some farms use some sedation during the administration of these procedures, many do not for lack of time or to save cost (especially in disbudding), leaving calves to endure this painful trauma fully conscious. Many farmers don’t want to wait for the 10 to 15 minutes required for the local anaesthetic to take full effect, so they skip it altogether.

Research consistently shows that disbudding and dehorning are extremely painful for the animals and that without analgesia, the animals display significant distress, including agitation, head shaking, and signs of prolonged discomfort. Even when pain management is used, it may not entirely relieve the pain; studies indicate that calves still exhibit signs of discomfort for hours, sometimes days, following disbudding. This is not surprising as the area where horns grow, as well as inside the horns, there are many nerves with pain receptors.

The pain inflicted during the disbudding procedure has been previously verified by using quantitative behavioural measurements, including rates of head movements, tail wags, and vocalisations (Graf and Senn, 1999; Grøndahl-Nielsen et al., 1999; Doherty et al., 2007). Acute pain following disbudding has also been documented in various studies by evaluating blood plasma/serum cortisol concentrations, and behaviours focused around the horn bud wounds, such as ear flicks, head rubs, and head shakes (Faulkner and Weary, 2000; Heinrich et al., 2009; Stilwell et al., 2012; Huber et al., 2013; Stock et al., 2016). Pain following disbudding has also been previously assessed by evaluating a range of behaviours, including lying/standing, maintenance behaviours, and rumination (Grøndahl-Nielsen et al., 1999; Stilwell et al., 2012).

When caustic paste is used without proper training, the paste can spread, causing burns to other areas of the calf’s skin, eyes, and mouth. Dehorning performed as surgical removal of developed horns has the additional risk of infection and chronic pain.

Moreover, the suffering animals experience is not only physical but also psychological. Calves, like other mammals, have complex nervous systems and social bonds, meaning they experience fear and trauma when forcibly restrained and subjected to painful procedures.

The result of these procedures (the absence of fully grown horns) also generates problems for the animals. Cows and bulls are social animals, and when living feral they naturally establish social hierarchies using their horns in agonistic encounters, normally without serious injury. The absence of horns would make social groups less stable as these interactions may have different outcomes.

In the natural environment, horns serve important functions beyond aggression. They allow for defence, social signalling, and thermoregulation. Disbudding robs cows and bulls of these natural abilities, leaving them even more vulnerable in an already controlled and restricted environment.

"Afeitado" in Bullfighting Bulls

Strong bull with big horns in a traditional spectacle of bullfight in spain, Image from shutterstock_2338055667

One obscure part of the bullfighting industry is the manipulation of the bulls' horns to make them less dangerous to bullfighters. This type of dehorning, known as afeitado (shaving) although illegal according to most laws that regulate bullfighting in the nine countries with a developed bullfighting industry, may still take place clandestinely.

It consists of immobilising the agitated adult bull, cutting the tips of his horns, filing them, and then often covering the tips with substances to hide the fact that they have been filed down. This affects the bull’s ability to judge distances, and when he uses his horns to defend himself, can create a tenderness or pain in the horn so when they touch something may dissuade the bull from pushing further. Sometimes afeitado may be allowed on the bulls that are fought by mounted bullfighters (Rejones), to prevent the bull from injuring the horse (which in these types of spectacles does not carry any protective padding, as opposed to the horses used by picadores during traditional Spanish-style bullfighting on foot.

In a book titled Lidia sin Cuernos written in the 1950s when afeitado was very common, we can see a detailed account of how it was done: "Shaving bulls requires a series of operations that must be meticulously observed by whoever performs this operation… Once the bull is fixed and restricted, the saw comes into play. One centimetre, or two, or three is cut off; It depends on the size of the horn. Then, with a razor, the bull's horn is sharpened, starting at the tip and looking for the inclination of the horn… Then the rasp is used to round the tip… Later the file is used… and finally the grinder… and finally wax is smeared with a cloth or, failing that, grease from the bull's box… A handful of dirt, finally, soils the fixed horn, which gives the impression that it is the bull's original."

Disbudding and dehorning are two of the countless routine practices in animal exploitation industries that subject animals to pain and suffering for the sake of profit. Completely abolishing all forms of animal exploitation is the only ethical solution.  

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: November 14, 2024
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