The argumentation in regards to whether or not to dehorn cattle or breed polled genetics has transformed from favoring one side to favoring the other side numerous times in the past few years. There are many factors that are taken into account when determining the more profitable set of genetics. Three significant factors to scrutinize with dairy cattle are net merit, cheese merit, and fluid merit. While animal rights groups insist that animal genetics are unethical, the significant decrease in profitability when comparing cattle with polled genetics to cattle with horned genetics proves the importance of high genetic value. There are an abundance of different methods the farmer or veterinarian can go about with dehorning the cattle that are conditional on the age of the bovine being dehorned.
With cattle, especially dairy cattle, considering this farming practice is more hands-on, having horns …show more content…
PETA’s website has a whole section based on the opposition of dehorning cattle. The organization claims, “Animals often struggle violently and are therefore held still manually or in a “head bail” (a metal apparatus for restraining a cow by the neck) during the painful dehorning process, which is frequently performed without painkillers and results in severe pain that lasts for hours and can become chronic.” This, however, is untrue, as the most common and popular methods of disbudding and dehorning are quick and painless to the calf. Pain medications are also given to the calves after the disbudding or dehorning. They declare that the procedure is “extremely traumatic for young calves,” which is true, but to an extent. Dehorning does cause the calf stress and pain, but this is similar to a person getting his or her ears pierced. Getting one’s ears pierced does hurt but only for a short amount of time after. The calves are prescribed medication to ease the