Euthanasia protocol

Definition

Euthanasia is ending an animal’s life in a way that causes rapid loss of consciousness followed by death, with minimal pain and distress. A euthanasia protocol is the farm’s written plan for it, prepared with the herd veterinarian. FARM Animal Care and most customer audits require one.

A complete protocol covers:

Decision criteria: when an animal should be euthanized, and who may make the call. Typical triggers: non-ambulatory with poor prognosis or no improvement (see non-ambulatory cattle); fractures or severe injury; severe pain that can’t be controlled; disease with no reasonable chance of recovery; animals unfit to transport that can’t be treated; calves that are weak or non-viable.
Timeliness: the decision should be made promptly, not delayed by hope or workload. Delayed euthanasia is a welfare failure even when the method is correct.
Methods and equipment, by animal class (adult, calf).
Confirmation of death and what to do if the first attempt fails.
Who is trained and authorized, and how training is documented.
Carcass handling after death (see mortality management).
Worker safety around firearms and restraint.

Methods (AVMA 2020)

Barbiturate overdose (IV): acceptable. Needs good restraint and DEA-registered personnel (in practice, the veterinarian), with strict drug accounting; the carcass is then a hazard to scavengers and has fewer disposal options.
Gunshot: acceptable with conditions. Firearm and ammunition must be sized to the animal, fired at the correct site, from a short distance, by a trained person. Use solid-point bullets. A .22 LR rifle is enough for calves under about 4 months; older cattle need a .22 Magnum or larger (AABP). AVMA does not recommend a .22 handgun for routine euthanasia of adult cattle, and if a .22 LR is used it should be a rifle fired within 1 to 3 feet of the skull. Shotguns (12, 16 or 20 gauge) work at 1 to 2 yards.
Penetrating captive bolt: acceptable with conditions. It stuns but may not kill, so it must be followed promptly by an adjunctive step (exsanguination, pithing, or an IV potassium chloride or magnesium sulfate overdose in the unconscious animal), or a second shot.
Non-penetrating captive bolt: limited to calves; AABP limits it to neonates and calves under 2 to 3 months, always followed by an adjunctive step.
Unacceptable: manually applied blunt trauma to the head, for calves as well as adult cattle; injection of chemicals (e.g. potassium chloride, disinfectants) into a conscious animal; xylazine or another alpha-2 agonist followed by potassium chloride or magnesium sulfate without general anesthesia; drowning; exsanguination of a conscious animal; and the wrong caliber for the animal’s size.

Site (AVMA 2020, AABP 2025): for gunshot or captive bolt, aim at the point where two imaginary lines cross, each drawn from the outside corner of an eye to the base of the opposite horn (or where it would be). In long-faced cattle or young stock, use a point on the midline halfway between the top of the poll and a line joining the outside corners of the eyes.

Requirements change; confirm the current version with the program, the herd veterinarian or the regulator. This page is reference material, not legal advice.

Formula

Euthanasia’s share of on-farm deaths, as a check on recording and on timely decisions:

Euthanized share (%) = euthanized animals / (euthanized + found dead) × 100
Hours down before euthanasia = euthanasia time − time first recorded down

LaTeX:

P_{\text{euth}} = \frac{N_{\text{euth}}}{N_{\text{euth}} + N_{\text{found dead}}} \times 100

A high share of cows found dead can mean sick animals are not being identified and euthanized in time.

How to pull it in DC305

Deaths are recorded as a DIED (or DEAD) event, with the cause and whether the animal was euthanized in the remark; some herds use a separate euthanasia event or remark code. Check the herd’s private dc305-vocab mapping.

EVENTS\D DIED ID LACT DIM PEN FOR EDAY>-365      DIED events in the last year, with remark
LIST\D ID LACT DIM DIEDT FOR DIEDT>-365          the same animals with died date (DIEDT)
ECON\E                                          dead cow summary report

EVENTS lists live animals only by default, so dead animals need \D (dead only) or \B (live and dead); animals moved to the archive file need \L. \S prompts for a date range instead of the EDAY filter (see DC305 events).

The protocol itself, training records and any euthanasia log (date, animal, reason, method, person, confirmation of death) are not in DC305. They live in the farm’s SOP binder or document system (see SOPs and training records). An auditor may cross-check DC305 deaths against the log.

Typical range

Herd context: US Holsteins, freestall or dry-lot; requirements as of AVMA 2020 and FARM Animal Care Version 5.

Item	Requirement or benchmark
Written euthanasia protocol	Required; part of the herd health plan, reviewed annually by the veterinarian of record (FARM v5)
Training	Job-specific training for everyone who performs euthanasia (FARM v5)
Trained people per shift	At least one trained, authorized person available at all times
Confirmation of death	No heartbeat (the main sign; stethoscope under the left elbow) and no breathing for 3–5 minutes; no corneal reflex. Keep watching for 20–30 minutes
Euthanized share of adult deaths	Often about half or more on well-managed herds (rule of thumb)

The heart can keep beating for a while after a correct gunshot or captive-bolt shot. No corneal reflex on its own only shows the animal is unconscious, not dead. If breathing doesn’t stop or starts again, shoot again (AABP 2025; AVMA 2020).

Common mistakes

Waiting too long. Repeated “one more day” decisions on a downer or a cow with a fracture. Set a decision point in the protocol (e.g. re-evaluate within a fixed number of hours).
No trained person on nights and weekends. The protocol names one manager who is often off site.
Wrong firearm or bolt for the animal. A .22 handgun on an adult cow, or a captive bolt with no adjunctive step.
Wrong aim point. Aiming between the eyes rather than at the recommended site, which is higher on the forehead.
Not confirming death before moving the carcass, or leaving it before checking again.
Moving or dragging the animal before euthanasia to make carcass pickup easier.
No record of the reason or method, or DC305 deaths with no cause remark.
Equipment not maintained. Captive-bolt cartridges damp or the wrong charge, or the tool not cleaned.