Kerri-Rae Millar was going about her Tuesday morning on June 10, 2025, when she received a call from a dairy client. He was asking for her opinion as his herd veterinarian on a pressing situation: A neighbour he shares a cattle trailer with had a positive test for bovine tuberculosis (bTB). His pressing concern: “What do I do?”

The FARM Program’s latest Animal Care standards released July 1 reflects current science-based industry standards for cow and calf care and provides best management practices for participants.

The objectives of this study were to describe current practices related to on-farm euthanasia performed by Canadian dairy farmers and to assess the emotions and complex feelings surrounding the act.

This article reports the barriers to talking about euthanasia, the emotions expressed by dairy farmers about the  euthanasia process of their animals, the psychological impacts of euthanasia on farmers and offers possible solutions to help them.