Breeding cattle without horns still a long way off
Cattle producers fear yet another animal welfare campaign, this time over the practice of dehorning cattle.
The painful and often bloody procedure is usually done without anaesthetic when the calves are very young.
But farmers say the operation is necessary for animal welfare reasons.
There are hopes a DNA test could soon put an end to dehorning by giving producers the ability to breed horned animals out of their herds.
But this could still be a decade away.
Senior Research Fellow at The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) Dr Carol Petherick says dehorning is good farming practice.
'A horned animal poses a threat to other animals and is also an occupational health and safety hazard when it is held in close confinement.'
'If an animal is not dehorned it can cost the industry significant amounts of money because of bruising, particularly in transport.'
But Dr Pertherick says it is a much simpler process if done when the calf is very young.
'If you can get to the animals before the horn attaches to the skull it is a fairly superficial operation.'
'Later on in life the horn fuses to the skull and it is a much more traumatic experience for the animal because it causes significant damage to the head.'
Scientific Officer for Farm Animals at the RSPCA, Melina Tenson says pain relief should be used when possible and at the earliest age possible.
'Wherever dehorning is practiced it needs to be done at an early age, preferably before two months by competent and trained operators.'
'But the long term goal is to replace dehorning with non-invasive alternatives,' Ms Tenson said.
Northern Queensland cattle producer, Greg Brown, says although it's desirable to dehorn at a very young age it's not always possible.
'There are all sorts of reasons which preclude being able to do the procedure across the herd.'
And he says pain relief is not a practical solution either.
'It would have to be a prescription drug and with hundreds and hundreds of calves in the yard I don't know how you could possibly make it work.'
Greg Brown thinks the industry has been slow to address this problem and is concerned it could be the next animal welfare issue to hit the headlines.
'We should have been onto this long before we were and it is definiately something we should now be throwing money at.'
- Melina Tenson, Scientific Officer for Farm Animals, RSPCA
- Greg Brown
- Greg Brown, Beef producer from Nth Queensland
- Dr Carol Petherick, Senior Research Fellow at The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) a University of Queensland
- Greg Muller @gregmullerabc