Castration of bull calves by using a rubber ring (elastration) is a common husbandry practice and is known to cause pain. Before changes can be made to the current requirements regarding pain control for castration, the behavioural and physiological implications of castrating shortly after birth with or without pain control must be assessed. Using 85 singleton bull calves from the Ontario Beef Research Centre, behavioural and physiological measures were collected and analyzed. Behavioural measures were determined by observing for pain-associated behaviours after castration. Average daily gain was used to determine physiological implications. Behavioural responses recorded after castration suggested pain control was able to alleviate pain. Differences were found between control calves and meloxicam-treated calves. There was no impact on average daily gain. It was concluded that meloxicam has the potential to alleviate pain post-castration.