Making timely welfare decisions for injured livestock
Article written by Martha Twist, BVSc MRCVS
“When you’ve got livestock, you’ve got deadstock” is a phrase that farmers and vets hear all too often. While it may sound blunt, it reflects an unfortunate reality of livestock farming. Despite everyone’s best efforts, accidents happen, injuries occur, and sometimes sick animals simply don’t recover.
In these situations, one of the most important responsibilities of livestock ownership is ensuring that animals do not suffer unnecessarily. By law, farmers have a duty of care to protect the welfare of animals under their management. Where an animal is suffering and treatment is unlikely to be successful, humane killing is not only permitted but may be the most appropriate and legally required course of action.
When faced with a severely injured or unwell animal, it can be helpful to ask four simple questions:
If the answer to these questions is no, then prompt dispatch is often the kindest option. Our on-call vets are always available to provide advice and emergency assistance, and we aim to respond rapidly when urgent situations arise. However, there are circumstances where waiting for a vet may not be the most practical solution. Emergencies rarely happen at convenient times, and there may be situations where immediate action is required to prevent unnecessary suffering.
For this reason, we believe livestock farmers should be equipped with the knowledge, confidence and skills needed to carry out humane emergency dispatch when necessary. Appropriate training ensures that decisions can be made promptly and that equipment is used safely, legally and effectively.
To help farmers prepare for these difficult situations, we offer practical emergency dispatch and captive bolt training courses. These sessions cover welfare considerations, legal responsibilities, equipment selection and maintenance, and the safe and effective use of captive bolt equipment across different livestock species.
Captive bolts are the only humane euthanasia method that can be used on all livestock species at all ages without the need for a firearms license.
No farmer wants to be faced with the decision to euthanise an animal. However, being prepared before an emergency occurs can make all the difference to animal welfare when difficult situations arise.
If you would like to find out more about our upcoming emergency dispatch and captive bolt training courses, please contact the practice for further details.
Feedback from the last course:
“Helpful to learn how to dismantle and maintain the captive bolt gun”
“Felt confident to use the captive bolt after instruction”
“A thorough overview on the legalities and ethics of on-farm slaughter”
