Dairy: Revised dairy code proposes a ban on tail docking

The draft code, now consideration by the National Farm Animal Care Council, also requires pain control for dehorning and castration

by DON STONEMAN

Do you leave tails undocked, and use anesthetics and analgesics when dehorning and castrating cattle? If so, you are already on the right side of a revised Dairy Code of Practice under consideration by the National Farm Animal Care Council.

The draft revision of the Code, which was last updated in 1989, proposes to ban tail docking of cows and heifers and require that pain control measures be put into place when dehorning and castration takes place.

Better Farming - April 2009