Effect of topical vapocoolant spray on perioperative pain response of unweaned calves to ear tagging and ear notching

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Simple SummaryThe pain caused by surgical procedures performed routinely for managing livestock husbandry is recognised as a significant animal welfare issue for food security. In recent years, there has been progress encouraging the uptake of pain relief in extensively managed livestock operations, with research and development offering options for the practical delivery of anaesthetics and analgesics during these procedures. In Australia, topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam treatments are now commercially available for use during routine surgical husbandry procedures of lambs and calves. A study to assess the effect of these treatments on weight gain and behavioural variables following concurrent surgical castration and amputation dehorning in beef calves is reported. Results showed that a combination of topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam appeared to reduce pain following castration and dehorning, with improved weight gain and increased lying activity in the first few days following the procedures. In addition, some individual behaviours expressed by the calves on the day of treatment suggested pain was relieved by topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam, although further clarification of this observation is required. These findings demonstrate that provision of topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam to beef calves undergoing surgical castration and amputation dehorning can result in improved animal welfare and production.AbstractThe use of pain relief during castration and dehorning of calves on commercial beef operations can be limited by constraints associated with the delivery of analgesic agents. As topical anaesthetic (TA) and buccal meloxicam (MEL) are now available in Australia, offering practical analgesic treatments for concurrent castration and dehorning of beef calves, a study was conducted to determine their efficacy in providing pain relief when applied separately or in combination. Weaner calves were randomly allocated to; (1) no castration and dehorning/positive control (CONP); (2) castration and dehorning/negative control (CONN); (3) castration and dehorning with buccal meloxicam (BM); (4) castration and dehorning with topical anaesthetic (TA); and (5) castration and dehorning with buccal meloxicam and topical anaesthetic (BMTA). Weight gain, paddock utilisation, lying activity and individual behaviours following treatment were measured. CONP and BMTA calves had significantly greater weight gain than CONN calves (p < 0.001). CONN calves spent less time lying compared to BMTA calves on all days (p < 0.001). All dehorned and castrated calves spent more time walking (p = 0.024) and less time eating (p < 0.001) compared to CONP calves. There was a trend for CONP calves to spend the most time standing and CONN calves to spend the least time standing (p = 0.059). There were also trends for the frequency of head turns to be lowest in CONP and BMTA calves (p = 0.098) and tail flicks to be highest in CONN and BM calves (p = 0.061). The findings of this study suggest that TA and MEL can pot...

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Topical Anaesthetic and Buccal Meloxicam Treatments on Concurrent Castration and Dehorning of Beef Calves

Saag

White

Ingram

et al. 2018

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“…For VAPO calves, vapocoolant spray was applied to the distal scrotum immediately prior to excision and then to each exposed spermatic cord following extrusion, prior to severing. Vapocoolant spray was applied for 3 s from a distance of 10 cm to the scrotum and spermatic cords, as this application method has been shown to be effective for ear tagging and notching [15]. In addition, this application method is suitable for an animal production setting where a short spray duration (3 s) does not add substantial time to animal processing [15].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have been shown to decrease pain associated with initial intradermal anaesthetic injection [10], venipuncture [11], vaccinations [12], cosmetic botulinum injections [13] and intravenous cannulation [14]. Vapocoolant sprays have also been shown to reduce pain responses in horses during arthrocentesis [9] and in calves during ear tagging and ear notching [15]. Topical vapocoolants result in local anaesthesia by causing a drop in temperature due to rapid evaporation of volatile liquid from the skin surface [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Lignocaine and a Topical Vapocoolant Spray on Pain Response during Surgical Castration of Beef Calves

Saag

Lomax

Windsor

et al. 2019

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This study assessed the efficacy of pre-operative injected lignocaine and peri-operative topical vapocoolant spray, administered as most practical for incorporation into routine calf castration procedures. Calves were randomly allocated to: (1) sham castration (SHAM); (2) surgical castration (CAST); (3) surgical castration with lignocaine (LIG); and (4) surgical castration with vapocoolant spray (VAPO). Calf behavioural responses were scored at different stages of the sham castration or castration procedure. Maximum ocular temperatures were measured at three time-points relative to restraint and treatment. There were significant effects of treatment (p < 0.001) and stage of procedure (p < 0.001) on calf behavioural response. SHAM calves were more likely to display less severe responses compared to all other calves and LIG calves were more likely to display less severe responses compared to VAPO calves. Calves were more likely to display more severe responses to extrusion of the first spermatic cord compared to all other stages of castration, and to extrusion of the second spermatic cord compared to severing of the second spermatic cord. There was a significant effect of time (p < 0.001) on ocular temperature, with ocular temperature being greater following sham castration or castration. In this study, there was no evidence of pain reduction during castration of calves by either lignocaine or vapocoolant spray.

“…For castration, this painful procedure can be mitigated using analgesia [ 39 ] and animals which are castrated early cope and recover faster than if this is done at an older age [ 39 , 40 ]. Ear notching is more painful than tagging, but the adverse effects can be mitigated using vapo-coolant [ 41 ] which provides a local cooling of the skin and thereby reduces pain perception. Hence, performing notching without the use of any anaesthetic was deemed to be a significant welfare compromise.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing an Animal Welfare Assessment Protocol for Cows in Extensive Beef Cow-Calf Systems in New Zealand. Part 2: Categorisation and Scoring of Welfare Assessment Measures

Kaurivi

Laven

Parkinson

et al. 2020

The intention of this study was to develop standards for a welfare assessment protocol by validating potential categorisation thresholds for the assessment of beef farms in New Zealand. Thirty-two measures, based on the Welfare Quality and the University of California (UC) Davis Cow-Calf protocols, plus some indicators specific to New Zealand, that were assessed during routine yardings of 3366 cattle on 25 cow-calf beef farms in the Waikato region were categorised on a three-point welfare score, where 0 denotes good welfare, 1 marginal welfare, and 2 poor/unacceptable welfare. Initial categorisation of welfare thresholds was based upon the authors’ perception of acceptable welfare standards and the consensus of the literature, with subsequent derived thresholds being based upon the poorest 15% and best 50% of farms for each measure. Imposed thresholds for lameness, dystocia, and mortality rate were retained in view of the significance of these conditions for the welfare of affected cattle, while higher derived thresholds appeared more appropriate for dirtiness and faecal staining which were thought to have less significant welfare implications for cattle on pasture. Fearful/agitated and running behaviours were above expectations, probably due to the infrequent yarding of cows, and thus the derived thresholds were thought to be more appropriate. These thresholds provide indicators to farmers and farm advisors regarding the levels at which intervention and remediation is required for a range of welfare measures.