The effects of providing rest on physiological and behavioural indicators of welfare of cattle being transported by road has not been well studied in North America. New revisions to Canada's Health of Animals Regulations Part XII: Transportation of Animals indicate unweaned and weaned calves can be transported a maximum of 12 and 36 h, respectively, before an 8 h rest is required. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of rest duration, after 12 and 36 h of transport, on physiological and behavioural indicators of welfare in 7-8 mo-old beef calves. Three hundred and twenty conditioned calves (258 ± 23.9 kg BW) were randomly assigned to a 2 × 4 factorial design where the main factors included transport duration: 12 h (12; n = 160) and 36 h (36; n = 160) and rest stop duration: 0 h (R0; n = 80), 4 h (R4; n = 80), 8 h (R8; n = 80) and 12 h (R12; n = 80). After the resting period, animals were transported for an additional 4 h. Blood and hair samples were taken from 12 animals per treatment prior to and after the first and the 4 h transport; and then 7 h, 2 d and 28 d after the 4 h transport. The concentrations of haptoglobin, creatine kinase, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), lactate, and serum and hair cortisol were determined. Standing and lying behaviour was assessed for 14 d after transport, while feeding behaviour of calves in one pen per treatment were assessed for 28 d after transportation using an electronic feed bunk monitoring system. Body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG) and shrink (%) was assessed for all calves. The data was modeled using generalized linear mixed methods (SAS PROC GLIMMIX), where transport and time (nested in rest) were considered fixed effects and animal and pen were considered random effects. Statistically significant (p < 0.05) effects of transport were observed on BW and shrink, where 36 h-transported calves had lower (p < 0.01) BW and greater (p < 0.01) shrink than 12 h-transported calves. A transport × time (nested in rest) interaction (p < 0.01) was observed for lying percentage where, 36-R8 calves had greater (p < 0.01) lying percentage than 12-R8 calves on d 1 after transportation. The area under the curve (AUC) for NEFA was greater (p < 0.01) for 36-R0 calves than 12-R0, 36-R4, and 36-R8 calves, and greater (p < 0.01) in 36-R12 calves than 12-R12 calves. Haptoglobin AUC was greater (p = 0.05) in 36-R12 than 12-R12 calves. Overall, physiological indicators of reduced welfare were greater in calves transported for 36 than 12 PLOS ONE | https://doi.

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the welfare of farm animals, especially during transportation. The Canadian transport regulations state that weaned cattle require an 8 h rest after 36 h of transport. There are, however, only a few studies that assess the effect of rest on the welfare of beef cattle. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of conditioning, source and rest on indicators of welfare in 7-8-month-old beef calves during long-distance transport. Treatments consisted of a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design where the main factors were conditioning: conditioned (C; n = 160) or non-conditioned (N; n = 160); source: auction market (A; n = 160) or ranch direct (R; n = 160); and rest: 0 h (0 h; n = 160) or 8 h (8 h; n = 160). Means of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), serum amyloid-A, haptoglobin, creatine kinase (CK), and percentage of time standing from N calves were greater than C calves (all p ≤ 0.05). Means of percentage of time standing and CK of R calves were greater than A calves (both p ≤ 0.05). The mean of NEFA of 0 h calves was greater than the 8 h calves (p < 0.01), while the percentage of time standing of 0 h calves was less than 8 h calves (p < 0.01). Statistically significant differences between means of NEFA and standing percentage, were observed between 0 h and 8h calves. Few and inconsistent indicators of reduced welfare were observed between auction market and ranch direct calves, while non-conditioning was associated with greater physiological and behavioural indicators of reduced welfare. Based on these results, conditioning should be implemented as a management practice to improve the welfare of transported calves.

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of band and knife castration on behavioral and physiological indicators of chronic pain in beef calves at 3 different ages (36 calves/age group): 1 wk of age (Exp. 1, 4 ± 1.1 d of age, 43 ± 1.1 kg BW), 2 mo of age (Exp. 2, 63 ± 2.3 d of age, 92 ± 1.7 kg BW), and 4 mo of age (Exp. 3, 125 ± 4.6 d of age, 160 ± 3.4 kg BW). In each experiment calves were randomly assigned to either sham (CT), band (BA) or knife (KN) castration. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 ended when the testicles of banded calves had sloughed off (68, 49, and 42 d, respectively). Animal BW and rectal temperature were recorded weekly over the experimental period. Salivary cortisol, substance P, haptoglobin, scrotal area temperature using infrared thermography, visual evaluation of swelling (5-point scale), and gait stride length were collected on d -1 and immediately before castration and weekly thereafter until the end of the study. Hair samples were collected 1 d prior to and 28 d after castration and at the end of the study for cortisol concentration. Standing and lying behaviors were recorded over a 28-d period immediately after castration. No differences ( > 0.10) were observed in salivary cortisol, substance P, haptoglobin, or hair cortisol among castration methods for any of the 3 ages. No changes in behavior were observed in calves castrated at 1 wk or 2 mo of age. In 4 mo-old-calves, BA spent less time lying ( < 0.01) than CT and KN calves. Also, the average duration of lying time for BA calves was greater ( < 0.05) than for CT calves. Both, 1-wk- and 2-mo-old calves had inflammation in the scrotal area lasting 7 d after KN castration, whereas inflammation was observed for up to 14 d in 4-mo-old calves. Swelling in BA calves lasted for 21 to 28 d in the 2 younger groups of calves, whereas in 4-mo-old calves swelling was observed until d 35 postcastration. Knife- and band-castrated calves did not exhibit indicators of chronic pain or distress when the procedures were performed in calves younger than 2 mo of age. Therefore, pain mitigation should be used when castrating to improve animal welfare, especially when castrations are performed in calves older than 2 mo of age independent of the method of castration.

To assess the effect of meloxicam and lidocaine on indicators of pain associated with castration, forty-eight Angus crossbred beef calves (304 ± 40.5 kg of BW, 7–8 months of age) were used in a 28 day experiment. The experiment consisted of a 2 × 2 factorial design where main factors included provision of analgesia and local anaesthesia. Analgesia consisted of: no-meloxicam (N; n = 24) single s.c. administration of lactated ringer’s solution and meloxicam (M; n = 24) single dose of 0.5 mg/kg of s.c. meloxicam. Local anesthesia consisted of: no-lidocaine (R; n = 24) ring block administration of lactated ringer’s solution or lidociane (L; n = 24) ring block administration of lidocaine. To yield the following treatments: no meloxicam + no lidocaine (N-R; n = 12), no meloxicam + lidocaine (N-L; n = 12), meloxicam + no lidocaine (M-R; n = 12) and meloxicam + lidocaine (M-L; n = 12). Salivary cortisol concentrations were lower (lidocaine × time effect; P < 0.01) in L calves than R calves 0.5 and 1 hours after castration, while concentrations were lower (meloxicam × time effect; P = 0.02) in M calves than N calves at 2, 4 and 48 hours. The serum amyloid-A concentrations were greater (lidocaine × time effect; P < 0.01) in R calves than L calves on days 1, 3, 21 and 28 after castration. Haptoglobin concentrations were greater (meloxicam × time effect; P = 0.01) in N calves than M calves 24 and 48 hours after castration. Lower (lidocaine effect; P < 0.01) visual analog scale (VAS) scores, leg movement frequencies and head movement distance were observed in L calves than R calves at the time of castration. Escape behaviour during castration was lower (lidocaine effect; P < 0.05) in L calves than R calves based on data captured with accelerometer and head gate devices. Scrotal circumference had a triple interaction (lidocaine × meloxicam × time; P = 0.03), where M-R calves had greater scrotal circumference than M-L calves 28 d after castration, but no differences were observed between both groups and N-R and N-L calves. No differences (P > 0.05) were observed for average daily gain (ADG), weights or feeding behaviour. Overall, both lidocaine and meloxicam reduced physiological and behavioural indicators of pain. Although there was only one meloxicam × lidocaine interaction, lidocaine and meloxicam reduced physiological and behavioural parameters at different time points, which could be more effective at mitigating pain than either drug on its own.