CLAIMS that only limited numbers of Australian livestock producers are using pain relief as part of routine surgical procedures including castration and dehorning have been refuted by industry heavyweights.
Allan Giffard, one of the founders of popular off-the-shelf product Tri-Solfen, said the demand for pain relief products was constantly increasing.
Mr Giffard said throughout 2022 manufacturer Dechra Pharmaceuticals struggled to keep up with the demand for Tri-Solfen as well as seeing record demand for its meloxicam product Apex Meloxicam.
"Right from the get go, Australian livestock producers have embraced better welfare in the form of pain relief for their animals," Mr Giffard said.
"As registrations become available, producers are immediately taking to products like Tri-Solfen and meloxicam because they fully understand that better animal welfare directly results in better animal performance.
"We know pain relief is being used because the demand continues to grow and by the incredible feedback we continue to receive from producers about the benefits of improved animal welfare."
Mr Giffard said the take up of pain relief has been extremely impressive with an estimate of more than 80 per cent of all mulesed sheep now treated.
There had also been notable increases in sales of pain relief products for lamb and hot iron tail docking, he said.
"The beef sector is a classic story of very rapid adoption of pain relief for dehorning and surgical castration once the technology was registered and became available," Mr Giffard said.
"This is clearly evident because our distribution partner Dechra struggled to keep up with demand and have further ramped up production for 2023."
The use of pain relief products has been universally implemented by Australia's largest beef producers.
Consolidated Pastoral Company chief executive officer Troy Setter even featured in full page advertisements in the rural media promoting the use pain relief for livestock.
"The trial work we have done across our properties involving thousands of cattle shows time and time again that providing pain relief to our animals results in less stressed, more productive and profitable animals," Mr Setter said.
"It's not surprising that the use of pain relief is becoming increasingly widespread across the livestock industries."
Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association president David Connolly said he recommended the use of pain relief because it was cost effective and the right thing to do.
"You can absolutely see a positive benefit between using it and not using it," Mr Connolly said.
Meat and Livestock Australia chief executive officer Jason Strong said Australian beef and lamb producers were increasingly world leaders in best practice animal welfare.
"What is really important to communicate is how focused we are on doing the right thing by animals and livestock," Mr Strong said.
"While there are plenty of ways we can look at things that can be done better, what's most important is the absolute commitment that our industry has on the best animal welfare practices."
Mr Strong said Australia was not only leading the world in the development of solutions, but how those solutions were applied in both the cattle and sheep sector.
"We are making sure we have options that will provide any and all producers with the opportunity to make a choice to use pain relief whenever they might think that is necessary," Mr Strong said.
While there are plenty of ways we can look at things that can be done better, what's most important is the absolute commitment that our industry has on the best animal welfare practices.
- Jason Strong, Meat and Livestock Australia
"Pain relief and how we actually apply it and its adoption is one of those really good demonstrations as how as an industry we are adjusting to what we see as best practice."
Mr Strong said the approach to invasive procedures such as castration, tail docking and dehorning had changed over time.
"Now those types of activities are really top of mind and the use of pain relief is really prevalent in those activities," he said.
"It's a significant change to what we would have seen decades ago."
The Australian beef industry is working towards 100 per cent use of pain relief by 2030, in line with its commitment to becoming carbon neutral in the same year.
