And yes there are people who can see when another person is sick, without speaking to him/her.
Why should animals behave different from us?
Only a trained eye will pick up that an animals sick unless there is evidence of a fracture.

Problem with Mulesing and blowfly prone sheep?
Solution breed animals that dont need mulesing and are not prone to blowflies.

Its obvious that castrated and mulsed dont move for several days because of pain.
Some animals might not feel the pain while being mutilated, because they are so stressed and scared but they surely feel the pain for days after the procedure.
Every surgical procedure no matter how small it seems can kill an animal.
Yes, the young ones go and suck as soon as they possibly can as it gives them some sort of comfort and reasurance.

Indicator of pain?
Unable to move, crouched position, excessive salivation, licking paws, looking dazed, etc.

Taurus I agree with you no animal should be killed via 4X4 or from air.
Professional shooters killing Roos are given a certain amount of ammunition to use.
They wont give a maimed animal a mercy shot. May be the same rule applies to shooters of feral introduced animals.
I also detest that any animals being poisoned Brumbies etc.

Using darts on the animals is uneconomical as the tranquilizer/sedative is a very expensive exercise, unless they swamp the market with a generic/synthetic product.
Tranquilizers are given individually as every animal has a different weight so you can not use one certain amount for all animals. Healthy animals will need more of the sedation than a sick one.
Theres a tranquilizer that works instantly but if the animal is near a gully or on higher ground or in an area with lots of branches it can break its neck or fracture bones etc its not really practical.
Again due to AVA regulations its only Vets that are allowed to use tranquilizers and nobody is able to pay that bill…
The problem of killing the animal still remains.

Welcome Poppa Smurf! ROFL

Sows carry piglets around by the scruff of the neck?? No knowledge of pigs I gather?

The only time Ive seen a sow with a piglet between her jaws was when she was eating it!

You guys slay me..:)

Sensible Smurf..welcome to the thread..its clear you will provide interesting debate..

The reason small animals hide their pain goes back as part of the evolutionary process..before domestication.If an animal appeared to be sick and injured it was most likely picked off first by predators..so hiding pain was a survival technique.My guinea pigs (my kids) are one such animal that does this.

Kangaroos shooters traditionally werent allocated ammunition..could be different now, but I dont see how they could do their job if that were the case.
They are allocated numbered ear tags by the goverment as they have a quota to fill and weight limits to adhere to.

I dont remember our sows picking up piglets by the scruff:) but the theory is sound?

Pisces I think I remember that woman you speak of..Sara Henderson or some such..did she have breast cancer at some point?

Correction-That above comment re "Sara Henderon ' was directed to PF.

Yes, Sara Henderson, thats who I was thinking of. She died not long ago.

"I dont remember our sows picking up piglets by the scruff:) but the theory is sound?"

Can anyone name an animal outside the feline and the canine family that carries its young by the scruff of the neck? Dogs and cats are the extent of most peoples experience with animals and they try to apply their traits to all.

It annoys me when animal welfare groups use the same attitude in their arguement against intensive piggeries. It leaves them looking silly and only helps reinforce the 'extremist' tag. Pigs are just not the sweet doting mothers that they try and portray.

Bars or not, a sow will do absolutely nothing to assist the young she has given birth to. They make their own way or die. Crows, foxes, they can pick them off as they are born, she will do nothing. They seem to be in a trance like state for the first couple of days. After that, some sows will be very defence of their young, some wont. The only thing that seems to trigger defence is a squealing piglet.
And the singing that sows do when they feed their piglets? Sounds so sweet and maternal? The purpose is, it causes a large rise and fall of the abdomin and lets her milk down.

If a sow is suffering nutritional deficiancies, especially protien, she may rectify that by eating her young.

Apart from calling her young to feed, a sow seems to have very little interest in them unless they sqeal.

The point to all this? You cant make blanket statements and apply the cute puppy label to farm animals. If you dont know what you are talking about dont try and make it up.