Effect of analgesia and anti-inflammatory treatment on weight gain and milk intake of dairy calves after disbudding

Economic considerations of breeding for polledness versus disbudding in beef cattle

The domestication of animals has rendered horns less necessary for survival. Moreover, the use of polled and disbudded animals is interesting in order to avoid injuries of animals and handlers, among other advantages. We therefore conducted a comparative economic analysis of different traditional disbudding techniques versus selective breeding for polledness in Nelore cattle, the main beef breed of tropical systems in Brazil. The cost to obtain animals without horns was estimated in three different scenarios: disbudding with hot iron, disbudding with caustic paste, and phenotypic selection for polled animals. Price quotations of the materials were obtained in different states of the country and averaged. An initial frequency of horned animals of 92.16% was obtained based on the records of the Brazilian Association of Zebu Breeders. Selective breeding was found to be the best cost-effective scenario. This result differs from intensive production systems of dairy cattle in which traditional disbudding continues to be the best cost-effective scenario. The main explanation is the lack of difference in the price of Nelore semen from polled and horned bulls. Phenotypic selection for polled animals is the best cost-effective method, and it is in accordance with welfare practices. Care should be taken regarding the intensive use of few polled breeding animals in order to avoid inbreeding depression in other traits.

Behavioral changes in the first 3 weeks after disbudding in dairy calves

Hot-iron disbudding, the practice of cauterizing horn bud tissue to prevent horn growth in dairy calves, results in behavioral changes indicative of pain in the first few days after the procedure. However, few studies have quantified behavioral changes in the following weeks, while the burn wounds are still healing. Female Holstein calves were disbudded with a heated iron and pain relief (5.5 mL lidocaine cornual nerve block and 1 mg/kg oral meloxicam) at 4 to 10 d of age (n = 19) or not disbudded (n = 19). Calves wore ear tag accelerometers that reported the dominant behavior being performed at 1-min intervals from 3 to 21 d after disbudding. Compared with age-matched controls, disbudded calves tended to spend more time inactive throughout the observation period, ruminated less in the first 3 to 11 d after disbudding, and sucked more from a milk bottle beginning 5 d after disbudding until the end of the 21-d observation period. In addition to the accelerometer data, live observations of sleeping (using a behavioral proxy), lying, and ruminating were collected using instantaneous sampling at 5-min intervals for 24-h periods 3, 10, and 17 d after disbudding. Disbudded calves slept with their head down more on all live observation days and spent more time lying on the 17th d after disbudding, but ruminating did not differ compared with controls, in contrast to the accelerometer results. More time spent inactive, sleeping, and lying, and less time spent ruminating (as indicated by the accelerometer) can be interpreted as attempts to reduce painful stimulation of the disbudding wounds and allocate energy to healing. It is unclear whether the greater amount of sucking in the disbudded calves is nutritive (milk present) or non-nutritive (milk absent), as the algorithm did not distinguish the type of sucking, and further research is needed to explore the factors underlying this effect. We conclude that disbudding alters daily behavior patterns for at least 3 wk, far beyond the duration of recommended pain medication, raising additional welfare concerns about the procedure.

Randomised Control Trial Investigating the Efficacy of Meloxicam and Sodium Salicylate Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs for Calf Cautery Disbudding

Disbudding calves using hot iron cautery is a routine management procedure to destroy the germinal cells around the horn bud in calves. It is recommended that NSAIDs are used in conjunction with local anaesthesia to reduce pain in calves during and after the procedure. In this study, two treatment groups were examined; calves in the positive control MEL group received subcutaneous meloxicam, and SAL calves received sodium salicylate orally for three days, both in addition to a local anaesthesia. Tri-axis accelerometers were attached to the calves, and DLWG (Daily Live Weight Gain) was measured. There was no significant difference between the treatment groups with regard to DLWG (p = 0.52), MI (motion index (p = 0.66)), lying bouts (p = 0.96) or lying times (p = 0.54). Given these findings, sodium salicylate may offer a lower-cost option for farmers when given at licensed doses compared to meloxicam, as well as providing a reduced-stress method of NSAID administration via an oral route. In addition, this study identified significant differences in activity in the time periods before and after disbudding, with MI (p < 0.01), lying bouts (p = 0.002) and lying times (p < 0.001) indicating changes in behaviour which extended to five days post disbudding.

Graduate Student Literature Review: Role of pain mitigation on the welfare of dairy calves undergoing disbudding

This review synthesizes research findings on the pain and welfare of dairy calves undergoing disbudding procedures. We describe disbudding practices in North America as well as the use and perceptions of pain control for these procedures. Governing bodies across Canada and the United States, including each country's veterinary medical association and nationwide initiatives such as proAction and Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM), recommend or require the use of a local anesthetic, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), and a sedative for disbudding procedures. Although the use of pain relief for disbudding has increased over the past decade or so, some in the dairy industry still do not believe that pain control for disbudding is necessary. As a painful procedure, disbudding has numerous welfare impacts on the calf both during and following the procedure that can be categorized under all 3 principles of animal welfare: natural living, biological functioning, and affective state. The use of pain control for disbudding; namely, a local anesthetic and NSAID, can improve welfare outcomes such as procedure-induced pain behavior, cortisol concentrations, mechanical nociceptive threshold, emotional states, and so on, compared with no pain control for the procedure. Although extensive research exists on pain control practices for disbudding, this review identified further gaps in knowledge and areas for future research. Mechanical nociceptive threshold can be evaluated around the disbudding wounds and is a reliable test in older calves; however, this outcome in very young calves after caustic paste disbudding has been reported to be inconclusive compared with that in older calves. As well, research evaluating xylazine sedation for disbudding has reported both potentially positive and negative results that are difficult to interpret or base suggestions on for the use of this drug. Finally, wounds caused by disbudding take a long time to heal (up to 13 wk) and have increased sensitivity for the entire healing process. Therefore, future research should aim to (1) determine accurate behavioral tests for calves under 1 wk of age undergoing disbudding to better understand their experience, (2) further attempt to understand the effects of xylazine sedation for disbudding and potential impacts of providing this medication, and (3) determine more ways to reduce the healing time and pain experienced by the calf after disbudding procedures.

The Neuroimmune Interface and Chronic Pain Through the Lens of Production Animals

Communication between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system has gained much attention for its fundamental role in the development of chronic and pathological pain in humans and rodent models. Following peripheral nerve injury, neuroimmune signaling within the CNS plays an important role in the pathophysiological changes in pain sensitivity that lead to chronic pain. In production animals, routine husbandry procedures such as tail docking and castration, often involve some degree of inflammation and peripheral nerve injury and consequently may lead to chronic pain. Our understanding of chronic pain in animals is limited by the difficulty in measuring this pathological pain state. In light of this, we have reviewed the current understanding of chronic pain in production animals. We discuss our ability to measure pain and the implications this has on animal welfare and production outcomes. Further research into the neuroimmune interface in production animals will improve our fundamental understanding of chronic pain and better inform human clinical pain management and animal husbandry practices and interventions.

Can animals develop depression? An overview and assessment of ‘depression-like’ states

Describing certain animal behaviours as ‘depression-like’ or ‘depressive’ has become common across several fields of research. These typically involve unusually low activity or unresponsiveness and/or reduced interest in pleasure (anhedonia). While the term ‘depression-like’ carefully avoids directly claiming that animals are depressed, this narrative review asks whether stronger conclusions can be legitimate, with animals developing the clinical disorder as seen in humans (cf., DSM-V/ICD-10). Here, we examine evidence from animal models of depression (especially chronically stressed rats) and animals experiencing poor welfare in conventional captive conditions (e.g., laboratory mice and production pigs in barren environments). We find troubling evidence that animals are indeed capable of experiencing clinical depression, but demonstrate that a true diagnosis has yet to be confirmed in any case. We thus highlight the importance of investigating the co-occurrence of depressive criteria and discuss the potential welfare and ethical implications of animal depression.

Horn bud size of dairy-bred and suckler-bred calves at time of disbudding

BACKGROUND

Hot-iron disbudding is a common management procedure to prevent horn growth in calves. The study objective was to examine effect of age, breed and sex on horn bud size of dairy-bred and suckler-bred calves at time of disbudding.

RESULTS

The left and right horn bud size (diameter and height in mm) of 279 calves, including dairy-bred Holstein-Friesian (Male (M) = 88) and 191 suckler-bred (86 Charolais, CH; (M = 39, Female (F) = 47), 67 Limousin, LM; (M = 32, F = 35) and 38 Simmental, SI; (M = 22, F = 16) sired)) was measured using a digital calliper at time of disbudding. Calves were retrospectively assigned to two age categories at time of disbudding: 1), 14 to 28 days (d) old and 2), 29 to 60 d old. Holstein-Friesian M calves had a greater horn bud diameter (16.97 v.14.45 mm) and height (7.79 v. 5.00 mm) compared to suckler-bred M calves (P < 0.01), with no difference (P > 0.05) among the suckler-bred calves. Suckler-bred M calves had a greater horn bud diameter (14.46 vs 13.29 mm) and height (5.01 vs 3.88 mm) compared to suckler-bred F calves (P < 0.05). The slopes of the lines of best fit show that horn bud diameter and height increased with age (P < 0.05) for HF, SI male and CH female calves while there was no relationship with age (P > 0.05) for CH and LM male calves, or for SI and LM female calves. Linear regression of age with diameter and with height for each breed and sex showed high variability in the data as indicated by R-squared values ranging from 0.003-0.41 indicating that in the case of the diameter and the height, the weight of the fitting effect was poor.

CONCLUSIONS

Calf age is not a good predictor of horn bud size and recommendations for the disbudding of calves should be based on horn bud size and not on age. The implications of these findings are that calves should be disbudded while horn development is still at the bud stage and when the bud is large enough to be easily palpable/visible, but not so large that disbudding could lead to severe tissue trauma.

Pain Management in Farm Animals: Focus on Cattle, Sheep and Pigs

Simple Summary

Pain causes behavioral, autonomic and neuroendocrine changes and is a common cause of animal welfare compromise in farm animals. These recommendations focus on cattle, sheep, and pigs, and present the implications of unmanaged pain in terms of animal welfare and ethical perspectives, and its challenges and misconceptions. We provide an overview of pain management including assessment and treatment applied to the most common husbandry procedures, and recommendations to improve animal welfare in these species.

Abstract

Pain causes behavioral, autonomic, and neuroendocrine changes and is a common cause of animal welfare compromise in farm animals. Current societal and ethical concerns demand better agricultural practices and improved welfare for food animals. These guidelines focus on cattle, sheep, and pigs, and present the implications of pain in terms of animal welfare and ethical perspectives, and its challenges and misconceptions. We provide an overview of pain management including assessment and treatment applied to the most common husbandry procedures, and recommendations to improve animal welfare in these species. A cost-benefit analysis of pain mitigation is discussed for food animals as well as the use of pain scoring systems for pain assessment in these species. Several recommendations are provided related to husbandry practices that could mitigate pain and improve farm animal welfare. This includes pain assessment as one of the indicators of animal welfare, the use of artificial intelligence for automated methods and research, and the need for better/appropriate legislation, regulations, and recommendations for pain relief during routine and husbandry procedures.

Methods for Pain Assessment in Calves and Their Use for the Evaluation of Pain during Different Procedures-A Review

The evaluation and assessment of the level of pain calves are experiencing is important, as the experience of pain (e.g., due to routine husbandry procedures) severely affects the welfare of calves. Studies about the recognition of pain in calves, and especially pain management during and after common procedures, such as castration, dehorning, and disbudding, have been published. This narrative review discusses and summarizes the existing literature about methods for pain assessment in calves. First, it deals with the definition of pain and the challenges associated with the recognition of pain in calves. Then it proceeds to outline the different options and methods for subjective and objective pain assessment in calves, as described in the literature. Research data show that there are several tools suitable for the assessment of pain in calves, at least for research purposes. Finally, it concludes that for research purposes, various variables for the assessment of pain in calves are used in combination. However, there is no variable which can be used solely for the exclusive assessment of pain in calves. Also, further research is needed to describe biomarkers or variables which are easily accessible in the field practice.

Analgesia for Sheep in Commercial Production: Where to Next?

Simple Summary

Increasing societal and customer pressure to provide animals with ‘a life worth living’ continues to apply pressure on industry to alleviate pain associated with husbandry practices, injury and illness. Although a number of analgesic solutions are now available for sheep, providing some amelioration of the acute pain responses, this review has highlighted a number of potential areas for further research.

Abstract

Increasing societal and customer pressure to provide animals with ‘a life worth living’ continues to apply pressure on livestock production industries to alleviate pain associated with husbandry practices, injury and illness. Over the past 15–20 years, there has been considerable research effort to understand and develop mitigation strategies for painful husbandry procedures in sheep, leading to the successful launch of analgesic approaches specific to sheep in a number of countries. However, even with multi-modal approaches to analgesia, using both local anaesthetic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), pain is not obliterated, and the challenge of pain mitigation and phasing out of painful husbandry practices remains. It is timely to review and reflect on progress to date in order to strategically focus on the most important challenges, and the avenues which offer the greatest potential to be incorporated into industry practice in a process of continuous improvement. A structured, systematic literature search was carried out, incorporating peer-reviewed scientific literature in the period 2000–2019. An enormous volume of research is underway, testament to the fact that we have not solved the pain and analgesia challenge for any species, including our own. This review has highlighted a number of potential areas for further research.

Randomized controlled trial assessing the effects of xylazine sedation in 2- to 6-week-old dairy calves disbudded with a cautery iron

The use of local anesthesia and a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) can reduce indicators of pain and inflammation and encourage self-rewarding behavior in calves following disbudding. Although the use of sedation may be recommended as a best practice for disbudding, there is little research in this area. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of xylazine sedation in conjunction with a local anesthetic and an NSAID in calves undergoing cautery disbudding. One hundred twenty-two group-housed female and male Holstein calves fed milk with automated feeders, aged 13 to 44 d, were enrolled over 9 replicates and randomly allocated to 1 of 2 treatments: (1) sedated: lidocaine cornual nerve block, 0.5 mg/kg meloxicam (administered subcutaneously) and 0.2 mg/kg xylazine (administered intramuscularly), or (2) nonsedated: lidocaine cornual nerve block and meloxicam. Outcomes collected consisted of feeding behavior (collected using automated milk feeders), latency to drink milk following disbudding, play behavior (induced by adding bedding), lying behavior, mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT, measured using a pressure force algometer), struggling behavior during disbudding, length of time to administer the nerve block, length of time to disbud, and serum haptoglobin concentrations. Data were analyzed using mixed models with a fixed effect for baseline values and a random effect for trial replicate. Linear regression was used to assess continuous outcomes, logistic regression for binary outcomes, and Poisson and negative binomial models for count data with negative binomial models used if the over dispersion term was significant. There were no detected differences between the treatment groups in mean daily milk consumption in the 72-h following disbudding. Sedated calves had reduced average milk drinking speed from 0 to 24 h and 24 to 48 h following disbudding compared with nonsedated calves, but no difference was detected from 48 to 72 h. Sedated calves had reduced MNT at 0, 60, and 240 min after disbudding, but no differences were detected between groups at 24 h after disbudding. Nonsedated calves had 4.5 times the odds (95% CI: 1.5-13.2) of struggling more than twice during the disbudding procedure compared with sedated calves, and it took less time to administer a nerve block to sedated calves compared with nonsedated. At +3 h, nonsedated calves were 79 times (95% CI: 22.4 to 279.2) more likely to play compared with sedated calves, and 24 h after disbudding, sedated calves were 2 times more likely to play compared with nonsedated calves (95% CI: 0.93-4.3). The results indicate that calves sedated with xylazine for cautery disbudding responded less to painful stimuli (disbudding and MNT) both during and following the procedure and had a higher rate of play behavior 24 h following sedation compared with the nonsedated calves, but xylazine may also have a prolonged carryover effect that affects suckling behavior for 48 h following sedation.

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Pharmacokinetics and Mitigation of Procedural-Pain in Cattle

Common routine management practices in cattle, such as castration and disbudding, are recognized as being painful. In the United States (U.S.), these procedures are frequently performed without pain mitigation and there are currently no drugs federally approved for such use. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as meloxicam, flunixin meglumine and aspirin, are the most commonly used analgesics in U.S. food-animal production systems. However, the body of research investigating the effectiveness of these pharmaceuticals to control pain in cattle at castration and disbudding has not been comprehensively evaluated. Therefore, this review examined existing literature to summarize meloxicam, flunixin and aspirin (1) pharmacokinetics (PK) and (2) administration outcome in regard to pain control during castration and disbudding procedures, in cattle. Following systematic searches and screening, 47 PK and 44 publications were extracted for data and are presented. The sample size contained notable variability and a general deficiency of validated and replicated methodologies for assessing pain in cattle remain substantial challenges within this research area. Future research should prioritize replication of pain assessment methodologies across different experimental conditions to close knowledge gaps identified by the present study and facilitate examination of analgesic efficacy.

Differential Transcription of Selected Cytokine and Neuroactive Ligand-receptor Genes in Peripheral Leukocytes from Calves in Response to Cautery Disbudding

Simple Summary

Calf disbudding is a painful husbandry practice on dairy and beef cattle farms. Continuing efforts to enhance the accuracy of pain assessment can aid in the application of effective anti-nociceptive (analgesic) agents in non-verbal animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in the expression of genes involved in inflammation and pain sensitisation in response to removal of horn buds in calves, using hot-iron cauterization. The efficacy of an analgesic, meloxicam, was also tested in attenuating the changes in expression of the studied genes post-disbudding. It was revealed that cautery disbudding induces significant changes in the expression of genes involved in inflammation. Meloxicam was able to blunt the increased expression of some of the genes at 4 h and 24 h after disbudding, while it could not attenuate the increased expression of a few other genes associated with inflammation.

Abstract

Calf disbudding is a painful husbandry practice on dairy and beef cattle farms. An objective measurement of pain is useful to reliably evaluate the pain intensity and anti-nociceptive (analgesic) efficacy of therapeutic agents. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in peripheral leucocyte inflammatory cytokine gene expression in calves after disbudding, and to assess whether the changes in cytokine gene expression could be an indicator of the efficacy of analgesic drugs. In a randomised controlled study, 16 calves (aged 31 to 41 days and weighing 58 to 73 kg), undergoing routine disbudding, were randomly allocated into two groups (n = 8 in each group). Calves in the control group received no analgesic, while those in the treatment group received 0.5 mg kg⁻¹ meloxicam subcutaneously prior to disbudding. Disbudding was performed using an electric debudder. Blood (10 mL) was sampled from the jugular vein just before and 4 and 24 h post-disbudding, RNA was extracted from leukocytes, and the transcription of 12 genes of interest was assessed using nCounter gene expression assay. The results showed significantly higher transcription (compared to baseline values) of the studied genes (except CRH, IFNγ, and IL10) in the control group calves at either 4 or 24 h post-disbudding. The administration of meloxicam one hour before disbudding significantly attenuated the upregulation of IL6, PGHS2, TAC1, NOS1, and CRH gene transcription post-disbudding, while it did not suppress the elevated transcription of acute and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL1β, IFNγ, IL8, and TNFα genes. In conclusion, nCounter gene expression assay seems to be a promising tool to study the expression of cytokine genes and thus could be used for the pre-clinical evaluation of novel analgesics.

Understanding the effects of the bovine POLLED variants

Horns are paired appendages on the head of bovine species, comprising an inner bony core and outer keratin sheath. The horn bud forms during early fetal development but ossification of the developing horn does not occur until approximately 1 month after birth. Little is known about the genetic pathways that lead to horn growth. Hornless, or polled, animals are found in all domestic bovids. Histological studies of bovine fetuses have shown that the horn bud does not form in polled individuals. There are currently four known genetic variants for polledness in cattle on BTA1. All of the variants are intergenic, but probably affect regulation of nearby genes or long non-coding RNAs. Transcriptomic studies suggest that the expression of two nearby long non-coding RNAs are affected by the Celtic POLLED variant, but further studies are required to confirm these data. Candidate genes located elsewhere in the genome are involved in regulating bone formation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Expression of one of these candidate genes, RXFP2, appears to be reduced in the fetal horn bud of polled animals carrying the Celtic variant compared with horned individuals. Investigating horn ontogenesis and the genetic pathway by which the POLLED variants prevent horn development has implications for cattle breeding. If the genetic basis of horn bud formation and polledness is better understood, then new targets may be identified for precision genome editing to create polled individuals.

Effects of a topically applied anaesthetic on the behaviour, pain sensitivity and weight gain of dairy calves following thermocautery disbudding with a local anaesthetic

Aims: To compare the effect of a topically applied anaesthetic to no pain relief or meloxicam on the behavioural responses, pain sensitivity and weight gain of calves following disbudding with or without sedation. Methods: A total of 364, 2-6 week-old calves from three commercial farms were systematically allocated to one of six treatment groups. All calves received a cornual nerve block prior to disbudding, with half restrained in a crate and half sedated with xylazine. Within these groups one third received no further treatment (control), one third were treated with meloxicam >10 minutes prior to disbudding and one third received a topical anaesthetic applied to the horn bud wounds following disbudding. The frequency of ear flicks, head shakes, head scratches and pain sensitivity of the wound were recorded on up to eight occasions over 24 hours after disbudding. Calves were weighed before, and 7 and 28 days after, disbudding to determine average daily weight gain (ADG). Results: Compared to calves in the crate-control group, all other groups had reduced ear flicks at all times following disbudding (p < 0.01). Treatment with meloxicam and topical anaesthesia in addition to sedation reduced head scratches compared to calves in the crate-control group (p ≤ 0.013). At 22 hours after disbudding head shakes were reduced in sedated calves treated with topical anaesthetic compared to calves in the crate-control group (p < 0.001). Pain sensitivity was lower in all sedated calves than unsedated calves (p < 0.001). The ADG between Days 0-7 was 0.14 (95% CI = 0.015-0.274) kg/day greater in sedated calves treated with meloxicam than calves in the crate-control group (p = 0.03), and the ADG between Days 0-28 tended to be 0.06 (95% CI=-0.01-0.13) kg/day greater in sedated calves treated with topical anaesthetic than calves in the crate-control group (p = 0.09). Conclusion and clinical relevance: Sedation of calves for disbudding reduced the pain experienced in the following 24 hours. There was a benefit to providing calves with topical anaesthetic following disbudding on behavioural responses and pain sensitivity, which was similar to that of treating calves with meloxicam.

Calf aversion to hot-iron disbudding

Dairy calves are routinely disbudded by cauterization with a hot iron. To mitigate the intra-operative and initial post-operative pain associated with this procedure some farmers provide calves general and local anesthetics, but it is unknown if the procedure remains aversive. We used a place-conditioning paradigm to assess aversion caused by hot-iron cautery with a local anesthetic compared to a sham procedure. A test area was divided into three equally sized pens: two 'treatment' pens with distinct visual cues were connected by a central 'neutral' pen. Each calf went through the disbudding procedure and a 6-h recovery period in one treatment pen and the control procedure in the other treatment pen. In three tests (48, 72 and 96 h after the second treatment), calves could freely roam among the pens until they chose to lie down, ending the session. Calves spent less time in either of the treatment pens compared to the central pen. When only comparing the two treatment pen, calves spent less time in the disbudding pen, especially during the first test. Calves were also less likely to lie down in the pen associated with the disbudding procedure. We conclude that even with the use of a local anesthetic, hot-iron disbudding is salient and aversive for calves, indicating the need to refine or avoid the procedure.

A new method of administering local anesthesia for calf disbudding: Findings from a comparative on-farm study in New Zealand

Anesthesia of the horn bud for calf disbudding commonly is attained by injection of local anesthetic over branches of the cornual nerve, with anesthesia achieved in 3 to 20 min. With experienced and trained staff, this method is effective in 88 to 100% of calves. Variability in response and time of onset can compromise calf welfare if calves are disbudded before anesthesia is attained. Proposed legislative reliance on effective local anesthetic as the minimal method of pain relief for calves at disbudding means that administration of local anesthetic must achieve a repeatable level and rapid onset of analgesia. We describe an alternative method of local anesthesia administration that uses local site infiltration of anesthetic over the horn bud. However, this method has not yet been scientifically validated. This study assessed differences between disbudding using the cornual nerve block and disbudding with local anesthesia administered by local site infiltration. Efficacy of local anesthesia was assessed at 30-s intervals after administration by absence of reaction to 3 consecutive needle pricks over the horn buds. Behavior indicating pain was assessed during disbudding and scored from 0 to 3. Calf behavior was also recorded for 3 h after disbudding. Accelerometer data loggers were fitted to each calf for 24 h before and after disbudding to assess lying and standing times. Median time to cutaneous desensitization for local infiltration was 60 s compared with 225 s for cornual nerve block, and the variance in time to desensitization was less with local infiltration. Calves disbudded under cornual block had a larger behavioral response (indicated by a graded aversive body reaction) than calves disbudded under local infiltration. A multivariable model predicted that the mean body reaction score would be 0.6 for calves disbudded under local infiltration and 1.2 for calves disbudded under cornual block. There was no difference in any behaviors between the treatment groups in the 3 h after disbudding. Method of analgesia had no effect on lying time over the 24 h after disbudding. In this study, local infiltration was at least as effective in providing analgesia for disbudding as the cornual nerve block. Our results suggest that a more consistent, effective level of analgesia during disbudding was achieved using local infiltration and that there was no difference in postoperative expressions of pain.

Pain sensitivity and injury associated with three methods of disbudding goat kids: Cautery, cryosurgical and caustic paste

Pain sensitivity and skull/brain injury associated with cautery, cryosurgical and caustic paste disbudding were evaluated in goat kids. Kids (reared for meat; n=280) were randomly assigned to one of four treatments (n=70 per treatment): (1) sham-handling (SHAM) or (2) cautery (CAUT), (3) cryosurgical (CRYO) or (4) caustic paste (CASP) disbudding. A pain sensitivity test was carried out 15min pre-treatment and 1h post-treatment. Skull/brain injury was assessed at post-mortem examination. Kids with evidence of injury to the skull/brain, as well as a random sample of kids (n=15 per treatment) without evidence of skull/brain injury, were selected for histological examination of brain tissue. Average daily gains (ADG) were calculated from body weight measurements taken 10min pre-treatment and then at 2, 7 and 14days post-treatment as a measure of the potential effects of pain or injury on growth. CASP and CRYO kids displayed higher pain sensitivity post-treatment than CAUT or SHAM kids, suggesting that they experienced more acute pain 1h post-treatment. One of 70 CAUT kids had a perforated skull, but there was no histological evidence of brain injury in this animal; a further nine CAUT kids exhibited hyperaemia of the skull. The other treatments did not result in injury to the skull/brain. There was no evidence of a difference in ADG across treatments. Caustic paste and cryosurgical disbudding resulted in greater acute pain sensitivity than cautery disbudding; however, cautery disbudding has the potential to cause skull injury if performed incorrectly.

Measurement of dairy calf behavior prior to onset of clinical disease and in response to disbudding using automated calf feeders and accelerometers

We determined if feeding and lying behavior, recorded by automatic calf feeding systems (ACFS) and accelerometers, could be used to detect changes in behavior before onset of neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD) or in response to disbudding pain in dairy calves. At 4 d of age, 112 calves had accelerometers attached to their hind leg and were housed in pens with ACFS. Calves were examined daily for signs of illness or injury. Of the 112 calves monitored, 18 were diagnosed with NCD; activities of calves with NCD were then compared with those of 18 healthy controls (calves that had no symptoms of NCD, other illnesses, or injury). Feeding (milk consumption and the number of rewarded and unrewarded visits to the feeder) and lying behavior during the 5 d leading up to calves displaying clinical signs of NCD were analyzed. Calves with NCD performed fewer unrewarded visits and consumed less milk than healthy calves during the 2- and 4-d periods before diagnosis with NCD, respectively. Calves with NCD tended to perform fewer lying bouts than healthy calves over the 5-d period before diagnosis with NCD. At 3 wk of age, a subset of 51 healthy calves were allocated to 1 of 5 treatment groups: (1) sham handling (SHAM, n = 10), (2) cautery disbudding (DB, n = 11), (3) administration of local anesthetic (LA) and DB (LA+DB, n = 11), 4) administration of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and DB (NSAID+DB, n = 9), and (5) administration of LA, NSAID and DB (LA+NSAID+DB, n = 10). Feeding and lying behavior were recorded continuously for 24 h pre- and postdisbudding. We found no effect of treatment on the number of rewarded or unrewarded visits to the feeder and milk volume consumed 24 h before administration of treatments. During the 24-h postdisbudding period, SHAM calves performed more unrewarded visits than DB, LA+DB, and NSAID+DB calves, but the number of unrewarded visits did not differ between SHAM and LA+NSAID+DB calves. During the first hour of the posttreatment period we noted a difference in lying times among treatments, with DB and NSAID+DB calves spending less time lying than SHAM calves and lying times being similar between SHAM, LA+DB, and LA+NSAID+DB calves. The ACFS and accelerometers have the potential to automatically gather valuable information regarding health status and pain in calves. Therefore, it may be advantageous to combine both of these measures (ACFS and accelerometers) when evaluating NCD on farm or pain in calves in future research.

Welfare Effects of the Use of a Combination of Local Anesthesia and NSAID for Disbudding Analgesia in Dairy Calves-Reviewed Across Different Welfare Concerns

Across the international dairy industry, the vast majority of dairy herds have dehorned cows. Farmers choose to dehorn calves for different reasons such as easier handling of non-horned cattle and reduced risk of injuries in animals and staff. This review focuses on disbudding by use of hot-iron cautery as is practiced by dairy farmers in calves <3 months of age. We examine welfare effects of the use of NSAIDs in combination with a local anesthetic including indicators relevant for the three major welfare concerns-affective states, basic health, and functioning as well as the possibility to behave naturally. Across indicators of animal welfare, the majority of available evidence suggest that the use of NSAIDs in combination with a local anesthetic is advantageous in terms of animal welfare, and no studies suggest that NSAIDs are a disadvantage to animal welfare. However, irrespective of the welfare concern, use of NSAIDs combined with a local anesthetic does not fully eliminate the welfare challenges from disbudding. Further research is needed in order to fully understand the effects of this medication protocol on calf welfare, including knowledge about the duration of healing and the presence of long-term pain. At present, this lack of knowledge challenges the precise formulation of adequate pain management-in terms of medication protocol, duration, dosage, and type of administration.

Survey of disbudding practice on Czech dairy farms

Disbudding is a routine practice in many dairy herds due to the effort to decrease the risk of injuries. Although the disbudding practice is regulated, it can vary among farms. The variation may be caused by many factors, such as herd size or type of breed, but also by farmers' perception of pain caused by disbudding. Hence, the aim of this study was to specify the disbudding practice on dairy farms in the Czech Republic and to assess these practices, including the use of pain mitigation medication, by breed, herd size, and sex of the disbudded calves. We analyzed data from 106 Czech dairy farms, which were collected by a trained interviewer at dairy meetings in 2014-2015. The farmers answered questions regarding the farm's basic characteristics, disbudding practice, and his/her attitude to the pain caused by disbudding. To test the influence of breed, herd size, and sex of disbudded calves on different variables, logistic regression models were used. Disbudding was performed in 92.5% of the surveyed farms; 63.3% of dairy calves were disbudded before 4 wk of age, and Czech Fleckvieh calves were 2.8 times more likely to be disbudded before 4 wk of age than Holstein calves. The hot-iron method was the most used method (69.4%). Calves were 4.5 times more likely to be disbudded by hot iron in herds where both heifers and bulls were disbudded than in herds where only heifers were disbudded. Most (>90%) surveyed farms did not use any pre- or post-procedure medication to mitigate the pain caused by disbudding. The disbudding procedure was performed mainly by farm personnel (94.9%), who were trained by a veterinarian or veterinary technician (46.9%) or by other farm personnel (37.8%) or were not trained (15.3%). Two-thirds of farmers observed behavioral changes in calves after disbudding. Most farmers estimated the pain caused by disbudding to be mild or moderate (20.4 or 45.9%, respectively) and 15.3% of farmers estimated it to be severe. Almost a quarter of interviewed farmers were unable to assess the duration of pain, 39.8% farmers estimated that the pain lasts only several minutes, and 20.4% estimated that the pain lasts up to 6 h. We detected a tendency that farmers of larger herds estimated pain duration to be shorter (odds ratio = 1.2). To improve calves' welfare, training is needed in disbudding practice, focusing on the advantage of pain mitigation.

Economic considerations of breeding for polled dairy cows versus dehorning in the United States

This paper examines the costs and benefits of selecting for polled dairy heifers versus traditional dehorning practices. Stochastic budgets were developed to analyze the expected costs (EC) associated with polled dairy genetics. The economic assessment was expanded beyond on-farm cash costs by incorporating cost and benefit estimates to generate industry-wide discussion, and preliminary economic evaluations, surrounding the public acceptance and attitude toward polled genetics versus dehorning calves. Triangular distributions, commonly used to represent distributions with limited data, were used to represent labor costs for dehorning, the likelihood of treatment of calf, and the cost of veterinary treatment. In total, 10,000 iterations were run using @Risk v 6.0 (Palisade Corp., Newfield, NY). The EC of the 4 traditional dehorning methods evaluated in this study ranged from $6 to $25/head, with a mean EC around $12 to $13/head. The EC of incorporating polled genetics into a breeding program ranged from $0 to $26/head depending on the additional cost, or premium, associated with polled relative to horned genetics. Estimated breakeven premiums associated with polled genetics indicate that, on average, producers could spend up to $5.95/head and $11.90/head more for heterozygous and homozygous polled genetics, respectively, compared with conventional horned genetics (or $2.08 and $4.17/straw of semen at an assumed average conception rate of 35%). Given the parameters outlined, sensitivity to individual farm semen and dehorning costs are likely to swamp these differences. Beyond on-farm costs, industry-wide discussion may be warranted surrounding the public's acceptance and attitude toward polled genetics versus dehorning or disbudding of calves. The value of avoiding dehorning may be larger for the industry, and perhaps some individual farms, than initially suggested if additional value is put on calf comfort and possible worker aversion to dehorning. If public perception of dehorning influences market access, the EC of dehorning may be large but that cost is unknown at present.

Evaluation of horn bud wound healing following cautery disbudding of preweaned dairy calves treated with aluminum-based aerosol bandage

Pain management during and following disbudding procedures has been studied extensively, though few studies have evaluated wound healing following cautery disbudding in dairy calves. The purpose of this study was to observe wound healing following cautery disbudding with or without treatment using a topical aluminum-based aerosol bandage (ALU) in preweaned dairy calves. Dairy calves were disbudded within the first 3 wk of life using a standard cautery disbudding protocol. The ALU treatment was randomly allocated to the right or left horn bud within each animal. The outcomes measured were lesion score (LS) and wound diameter (WD). The LS was evaluated on a scale of 1 to 3, with LS = 1 representing normal healing without a scab or exudate, LS = 2 having the presence of a scab, and LS = 3 showing the presence of wound exudate. Lesion score and WD were evaluated on a weekly basis following dehorning for 3 wk. A total of 209 animals completed the study. No difference was observed in LS between groups during the first 2 wk postdisbudding, but the proportion of LS = 3 on wk 3 postdisbudding was greater for the control group when compared with ALU (17 vs. 8%, respectively). During wk 1 and 2 postdisbudding, the odds of having delayed healing, or a LS ≥2, were similar for both groups. However, the odds tended to be different at wk 3 postdisbudding with control disbudding sites being 1.42 times more likely to have delayed healing than ALU. In wk 3, WD was 1 mm smaller in the treatment group compared with the control, and treatment decreased diameter over time compared with controls. Overall, once abnormal wound healing was observed, the likelihood of having abnormal wound healing the following week was increased. However, treatment with ALU diminished this effect on delayed healing during the follow-up period. Based on these results, the use of ALU improved wound healing following cautery disbudding of preweaned dairy calves.

Adverse effects of a 10-day course of ibuprofen in Holstein calves

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are recommended for various conditions in cattle. Ibuprofen is an inexpensive short-acting NSAID and is readily available in liquid formulation for administration to bottle-fed calves. We compared the adverse effects of a 10-day course of ibuprofen and placebo in 16 five- to six-week-old Holstein bull calves that were being treated for experimentally induced bovine respiratory syncytial virus infection. Ibuprofen was administered as a liquid in milk replacer at 30 mg/kg divided three times daily. We found an increased prevalence of abomasal ulceration 5 of 8 in the ibuprofen compared to placebo group 2 of 6 (P = NS). There was one (1 of 8) case of mild interstitial nephritis in the ibuprofen and none (0 of 8) in the placebo group (P = NS). Renal function as measured by serum BUN and creatinine levels was not different between groups; no animal demonstrated an increase in creatinine.