BackgroundThe recognition and measurement of pain in cattle are important in determining the necessity for and efficacy of analgesic intervention. The aim of this study was to record behaviour and determine the validity and reliability of an instrument to assess acute pain in 40 cattle subjected to orchiectomy after sedation with xylazine and local anaesthesia. The animals were filmed before and after orchiectomy to record behaviour. The pain scale was based on previous studies, on a pilot study and on analysis of the camera footage. Three blinded observers and a local observer assessed the edited films obtained during the preoperative and postoperative periods, before and after rescue analgesia and 24 hours after surgery. Re-evaluation was performed one month after the first analysis. Criterion validity (agreement) and item-total correlation using Spearman's coefficient were employed to refine the scale. Based on factor analysis, a unidimensional scale was adopted.ResultsThe internal consistency of the data was excellent after refinement (Cronbach’s α coefficient = 0.866). There was a high correlation (p < 0.001) between the proposed scale and the visual analogue, simple descriptive and numerical rating scales. The construct validity and responsiveness were confirmed by the increase and decrease in pain scores after surgery and rescue analgesia, respectively (p < 0.001). Inter- and intra-observer reliability ranged from moderate to very good. The optimal cut-off point for rescue analgesia was > 4, and analysis of the area under the curve (AUC = 0.963) showed excellent discriminatory ability.ConclusionThe UNESP-Botucatu unidimensional pain scale for assessing acute postoperative pain in cattle is a valid, reliable and responsive instrument with excellent internal consistency and discriminatory ability. The cut-off point for rescue analgesia provides an additional tool for guiding analgesic therapy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-014-0200-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The aims of this study were to evaluate the potential impacts of training in good practices of cattle handling on stockpeople's attitudes and behavior, and on cattle welfare, in Brazilian beef farms. Additionally, we aimed to investigate whether the quality of cattle handling deteriorates as the working day progresses. The study was conducted on 24 commercial beef cattle farms (located in Northeastern Pará State, Brazil), which were classified into three groups with different levels of training: Regularly trained (TRAINED-R, n = 9), Occasionally trained (TRAINED-O, n = 9) and Never trained (NON-TRAINED, n = 6). A total of 150 stockpeople working on these farms were categorized according to the level of training received: i) Trained (TS, n = 43), those who attended formal handling skills training; ii) Non-trained, but had close contact with a trained stockperson (CTS, n = 62), and iii) Non-trained, and had no contact with a trained stockperson (NT, n = 45). On each farm, indicators of quality of handling (including animal and stockpeople behavior, and stockpeople attitudes) were measured on one workday, during the vaccination handling procedures of approximately 236 ± 65 (mean ± SD) heads of cattle per farm. We observed that NON-TRAINED farms had the poorest quality of handling, as well as more undesirable animal behaviors during handling (P < 0.05), when compared with the other farm categories (TRAINED-R, TRAINED-O). Stockpeople attitudes and behaviors varied according to their degree of training in good practices of beef cattle handling (P < 0.05). People who participated in a formal training course (TS) had the highest positive and the lowest negative behavior and attitude scores, compared with people in the other groups (CTS and NT). We observed an effect of the progression of the workday (P < 0.05) only on NON-TRAINED farms, where handling became worse over time. Our results support the hypothesis that training stockpeople in good cattle handling practices leads to better attitudes and behavior toward cattle. Thus, training stockpeople can be an effective and practical strategy to promote positive human-animal interactions on beef cattle farms, improving the quality of life of both animals and workers.

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IntroductionCattle temperament is an important factor that affects the profitability of beef cattle enterprises, due to its relationship with productivity traits, animal welfare and labor safety. Temperament is a complex phenotype often assessed by measuring a series of behavioral traits, which result from the effects of multiple environmental and genetic factors, and their interactions. The aims of this study were to perform a genome-wide association study and detect genomic regions, potential candidate genes and their biological mechanisms underlying temperament, measured by flight speed (FS) test in Nellore cattle.Materials and MethodsThe genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed using a single-step procedure (ssGBLUP) which combined simultaneously all 16,600 phenotypes from genotyped and non-genotyped animals, full pedigree information of 162,645 animals and 1,384 genotyped animals in one step. The animals were genotyped with High Density Bovine SNP BeadChip which contains 777,962 SNP markers. After quality control (QC) a total of 455,374 SNPs remained.ResultsHeritability estimated for FS was 0.21 ± 0.02. Consecutive SNPs explaining 1% or more of the total additive genetic variance were considered as windows associated with FS. Nine candidate regions located on eight different Bos taurus chromosomes (BTA) (1 at 73 Mb, 2 at 65 Mb, 5 at 22 Mb and 119 Mb, 9 at 98 Mb, 11 at 67 Mb, 15 at 16 Mb, 17 at 63 Kb, and 26 at 47 Mb) were identified. The candidate genes identified in these regions were NCKAP5 (BTA2), PARK2 (BTA9), ANTXR1 (BTA11), GUCY1A2 (BTA15), CPE (BTA17) and DOCK1 (BTA26). Among these genes PARK2, GUCY1A2, CPE and DOCK1 are related to dopaminergic system, memory formation, biosynthesis of peptide hormone and neurotransmitter and brain development, respectively.ConclusionsOur findings allowed us to identify nine genomic regions (SNP windows) associated with beef cattle temperament, measured by FS test. Within these windows, six promising candidate genes and their biological functions were identified. These results may contribute to a better comprehension into the genetic control of temperament expression in Nellore cattle.

Corporal hygiene is an important indicator of welfare for dairy cows and is dependent on facilities, climate conditions, and the behavior of the animals. The objectives of this study were to describe how the hygiene conditions of dairy cows vary over time and to assess whether a relationship exists between hygiene and somatic cell count (SCC) in milk. Monthly hygiene evaluations were conducted on lactating cows in 2 dairy farms for 9 consecutive months, totaling 3,554 evaluations from 545 animals. Hygiene was measured using a 4-point scoring system (very clean, clean, dirty, and very dirty) for 4 areas of the animal's body (leg, flank, abdomen, and udder) and combining these scores to generate a composite cleanliness score. A total of 2,218 milk samples was analyzed from 404 cows to determine SCC and somatic cell linear scores (SCLS). Individual variation was observed in the hygiene of cows throughout the year, with the highest proportion of clean cows being observed in August and the lowest in January. In spite of this seasonal variation, approximately half (55.62%) of the cows displayed consistent cleanliness scores, with 45.86% of them remaining consistently clean (very clean or clean) and 9.76% remaining dirty (very dirty or dirty) over the course of the study. The very clean cows had the lowest SCLS, followed by the clean, dirty, and very dirty cows (no statistically significant differences were found between the latter 2 groups). The most critical months for cow hygiene were those with the greatest rainfall, when a reduction in the welfare of cows and higher SCC values were observed. The evaluation and control of dairy cow hygiene are useful in defining management strategies to reduce problems with milk and improve the welfare of the animals.