DEAR EDITOR,

Your study guide article in the Irish Farmers Journal, issued on 1 April (pages 66-67) referred to the use of essential equipment in relation to calving, castration and dehorning. Calving, castration and dehorning are painful procedures for animals involved. The inappropriate use of essential equipment like the calving jack, burdizzo, elastrator and disbudding iron can cause significantly greater pain and injury to these animals.

The article refers to the importance of having experience in using such equipment, but makes no reference to the importance of training. To ensure good animal welfare, it is vital that equipment like the calving jack, burdizzo, elastrator and disbudding iron are used by farmers who have been properly trained in their use, along with the pain relief requirements and legal restrictions around their use.

Veterinary Ireland recommends that the use of such equipment should be avoided where possible – for example, by only using easy-calving bulls; and where procedures such as castration or dehorning must be performed, that they are done at as young an age as possible by a farmer who is trained and competent to do so.