This study aimed to evaluate a tri-axial accelerometer attached to a collar to determine the ability to accurately predict rumination, lying, grazing, and head shaking behaviour of ewes on pasture. Collars with accelerometers recording at 1 Hz were attached to 30 Romney type ewes managed in groups of 5. The behaviour of each group was observed for 1 day between 0830 and 1630 h using 30-s instantaneous scan observations. Head shaking behaviour was stimulated in the yards using a toy water pistol and analysed as present or not present. Grazing activity was well classified by a Random Forest algorithm using the out-of-bag error estimation with an accuracy of 83.4% (95% CI: 82.9-83.9%). The accuracy for ruminating activity was 82.6% (95% CI: 82.1-83.0%), and for lying activity 85.5% (95% CI: 85.2-86.0%). Grazing, ruminating, and lying activities were predicted with sensitivity values of 80.0%, 68.0%, and 79.4%, respectively. The specificity values for grazing, ruminating and lying were 86.6%, 87.6%, and 89.3%, respectively. The precision values for grazing, ruminating, and lying were 85.0%, 65.1%, and 81.7%, respectively. However, the accuracy to classify head shaking behaviour was only 52.2% with poor performance metrics potentially due to the low sampling frequency of the accelerometers in combination with a behaviour of short duration. The results show that accelerometers can monitor the behaviour of ewes on pasture; however, the sampling frequency likely needs to be higher to detect behaviours of short durations.

Aims Zoonotic pathogens in bovine herds are major concerns for human and animal health, but their monitoring in animals can be challenging in the absence of clinical signs. Our objective was to determine the association between fecal excretion of Campylobacter jejuni, neonatal immunity, and personality traits of calves. Methods and results Forty-eight dairy calves were reared in three indoor pens from birth to 4 weeks of life. Microbial analyses of the fecal samples collected weekly revealed that the proportion of calves naturally contaminated with C. jejuni in each pen reached 70% after 3 weeks of life. High (>16 g l(-1)) levels of IgG levels in the serum of neonatal calves were negatively (P = .04) associated with fecal detection of C. jejuni over the trial period. Calves that spent more time interacting with a novel object tended to be positive (P = .058) for C. jejuni. Conclusions Overall, the findings indicate that the immunity of neonatal dairy animals and possibly the animal's behavior may contribute to the fecal shedding of C. jejuni.

Parasitism with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) is a worldwide issue impacting negatively on animal production, health, and welfare. Therefore, early diagnostic signs of parasitism are required to allow for timely interventions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the behavioural and physiological changes in lambs associated with GIN infection. We used 30, 8-month-old Romney-cross wethers, that were administered anthelmintics until faecal egg counts (FEC) were zero and housed in an indoor facility. The study lasted 9 weeks, which comprised a 3-week pre-treatment, and a 6-week treatment phase. Lambs were randomly assigned to one of two treatments (n = 15/treatment) trickle-dosed with: 1) 1500 infective third stage larvae (L3) three days/week for 6 weeks (27,000 total L3; challenged), or 2) water 3 days/week for 6 weeks (control). Within each pen there were 5 pairs of lambs (balanced for liveweight), with each pair comprising a challenged and control lamb. Blood, faecal, and saliva samples were collected 1 week pre-treatment and weekly for 6 weeks of treatment. Behaviour was observed (e.g., feeding, lying, standing) from video-camera recordings using scan sampling every 5 min for 8 h, 1 day pre-treatment and on the day immediately prior to physiological sampling across the 6-week treatment phase (7 days in total). Accelerometers were attached to each lamb to continuously monitor behaviour from 3 weeks pre-treatment and for the remainder of the study. Liveweight, body condition, faecal soiling and faecal consistency scoring were performed weekly as was lipidomic analysis of plasma samples. From week 2 of treatment, challenged lambs spent less time feeding and more time lying than control lambs until week 5 of treatment (P ≤ 0.01). At week 3 of treatment, elevated lipids (mainly triglycerides and phospholipids), loose faeces and faecal soiling around the anus were observed in challenged lambs compared with controls (P ≤ 0.05). From week 4 of treatment, FEC were elevated in the challenged compared to control lambs (P ≤ 0.05). There was also lower liveweight gain at 4 and 5 weeks of treatment in the challenged lambs compared with control lambs (P ≤ 0.05). These results show a clear timeline of changes in behaviour (e.g., feeding and lying), lipids such as triglycerides, and digestive function (e.g., faecal soiling) suggestive of GIN subclinical disease, which show promise for use in future studies on early identification of subclinical GIN parasitism in lambs.

Castration is a stressful and painful procedure that can impact swine welfare negatively. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate the effect of one incision compared to two incisions and the use of a topical vapocoolant (VAPO; ethyl chloride; a topical anesthetic) applied before castration and (2) evaluate the most effective combination in reducing pain in objective 1 and the use of Metacam®; meloxicam before castration on measures of performance, behavior, and physiology. Study 1 consisted of six treatment groups (N = 27 pigs per treatment) and included: nothing (NO); sham castrated (SH); one incision castration (C1); one incision castration plus VAPO (C1V); two incision castration (C2); two incision castration plus VAPO (C2V). Body weights and blood samples were taken at baseline and other time points after castration. Behavior measures were collected for 24 h after castration. Wound scores were collected daily for 10 days. The C1 pigs and C1V pigs were significantly heavier than the other castrated treatment groups but not different from NO and SH pigs. Vocalizations were louder for C1 and C1V pigs (P = 0.0015). Study 2 (N = 40 pigs per treatment) included: nothing (NO); one incision castration (C1); and one incision castration plus meloxicam administered 15 min before castration (C1M). The same measures (performance, behavior, and physiology) were collected as in Study 1. Performance measures and behavior did not differ among treatment groups. Physiological measures were only different for red blood cells (RBC; P = 0.0304). Pigs in C1 and C1M treatment groups had cortisol concentrations that were greater than the NO treatment group at 15 min post-castration (P < 0.05). The data collected give insight into the benefits of one-incision castration compared to 2-incision castration. However, the data only support a lower-level relief from acute pain associated with castration, as it is evident that pigs still experience stress at 15 min post-castration with or without the use of meloxicam. Further research could potentially identify the correct timing, route and dose for the administration of meloxicam.

Castration of male piglets in the United States is conducted without analgesics because no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved products are labeled for pain control in swine. The absence of approved products is primarily due to a wide variation in how pain is measured in suckling piglets and the lack of validated pain-specific outcomes individually indistinct from other biological responses, such as general stress or inflammation responses with cortisol. Simply put, to measure pain mitigation, measurement of pain must be specific, quantifiable, and defined. Therefore, given the need for mitigating castration pain, a consortium of researchers, veterinarians, industry, and regulatory agencies was formed to identify potential animal-based outcomes and develop a methodology, based on the known scientific research, to measure pain and the efficacy of mitigation strategies. The outcome-based measures included physiological, neuroendocrine, behavioral, and production parameters. Ultimately, this consortium aims to provide a validated multimodal methodology to demonstrate analgesic drug efficacy for piglet castration. Measurable outcomes were selected based on published studies suggesting their validity, reliability, and sensitivity for the direct or indirect measurement of pain associated with surgical castration in piglets. Outcomes to be considered are observation of pain behaviors (i.e. ethogram defined behaviors and piglet grimace scale), gait parameters measured with a pressure mat, infrared thermography of skin temperature of the cranium and periphery of the eye, and blood biomarkers. Other measures include body weight and mortality rate. This standardized measurement of the outcome variable’s primary goal is to facilitate consistency and rigor by developing a research methodology utilizing endpoints that are well-defined and reliably measure pain in piglets. The resulting methodology will facilitate and guide the evaluation of the effectiveness of comprehensive analgesic interventions for 3to 5-day-old piglets following surgical castration.

Despite the clear importance of drinking water, calves are not always provided water on farm for the first few weeks of life. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of water provision (access or no access) and milk allowance (high or low) on the behavior and growth rate of calves. Fifty mixed-breed calves were each assigned to 1 of 4 treatments: (1) water and high (10 L/d) milk allowance (n = 13), (2) no water and high milk allowance (n = 12), (3) water and low (5 L/d) milk allowance (n = 12), or (4) no water and low milk allowance (n = 13). Visits to the water trough, water intake, milk drinking behavior (visits and drinking speed), proportion of observations eating hay and calf starter, and lying behavior were recorded from when the calves were, on average, 5 d of age (standard deviation: 2 d) for 4 consecutive weeks. Calves were weighed weekly. Some calves began to visit the water trough from the start of the recording period, as early as 4 d of age, and water intake increased with age for all calves that had access to it. This increase was greater for calves provided a high milk allowance. Water intake increased with ambient temperature, which highlights the importance of providing drinking water in warm conditions. Overall, calves spent a greater proportion of observations eating hay and calf starter with age. The provision of drinking water was associated with a greater proportion of observations eating hay but less eating calf starter. The increase in the proportion of observations eating calf starter with age was greater for calves on a low milk allowance than of those provided a high milk allowance; this is likely due to calves on a low milk allowance searching for nutrients and energy. Calves on a high milk allowance grew faster and spent more time lying compared with calves with a low milk allowance, thus suggesting greater satiety of well-fed calves. Our results suggest that calves should have free access to drinking water from birth and that access to drinking water may aid in hay (fiber) intake and possibly rumen development.

This study investigated the effect of milk allowance on the suitability of behavioural and physiological responses, individually and in combination, as early disease indicators. A total of 120 heifer calves were assigned into a 5 L/ d or 10 L/d milk allowance treatment group. Daily health checks were conducted to determine when calves presented clinical signs of neonatal calf diarrhoea (NCD). Automated calf feeders recorded milk feeding behaviour, and infrared cameras automatically recorded eye and cheek temperatures. Accelerometers recorded lying behaviour, and water drinking behaviour was recorded using an automated water system and video observations. Respiration rate was recorded once per day by counting flank movements. Calves were used as their own controls, with data analysed relative to the day of clinical identification (d 0). Based on changes which occurred over the 6 days prior to clinical signs of disease (across d-6 to 0), typically, feeding behaviours only changed significantly for calves on the 10 L/d milk allowance with an increase in total (P < 0.001) and rewarded visits to the feeder (P = 0.013), and a decrease in milk consumption (P = 0.011). Infrared temperatures only changed significantly prior to clinical signs for calves on the 5 L/d milk allowance, with a decrease in eye (P = 0.013) and cheek (P = 0.006) temperatures. Regardless of milk allowance, lying time (P = 0.028, 5L/d; P = 0.011, 10 L/d), number of lying bouts (P < 0.001, 5 L/d; P = 0.007, 10 L/d), and average bout duration (P < 0.001, 5 L/d; P = 0.002, 10 L/d), changed significantly prior to clinical signs. The only significant change in water drinking behaviour prior to clinical signs was an increase in total trough visit duration for calves on the 5 L/d milk allowance (P = 0.029). Respiration rate showed no significant change prior to clinical signs regardless of milk allowance. For calves on the 10 L/d and 5 L/d milk allowances, the most suitable indicator of disease was the total number of visits to the feeder (P < 0.001) and the number of lying bouts (P < 0.001), respectively. Regardless of milk allowance, combinations of feeding and lying behaviours, and additionally infrared temperatures in the case of calves on the 5 L/d milk allowance, provided the strongest composite indicators of disease. Overall, results suggest milk allowance can influence the suitability of behavioural and physiological responses as early disease indicators. Milk allowance should be considered when determining which measures will act as the optimum indicator/s when developing and implementing algorithms into automated on-farm systems for disease detection.

There is a strong industry demand for technically simple and highly efficacious alternatives to heat cautery disbudding in goat kids that can be performed as a stand-alone procedure without adjunct anesthesia, and that result in improved overall welfare through reduced acute pain, reduced tissues healing interval, and a consistent safety record. The objective of this study was to consider the net effect of disbudding techniques on goat welfare by examining vocalization frequency, long-term efficacy and animal safety associated with four alternative caprine disbudding methods against sham-disbudded and heat-cautery controls. Sixty-five commercial male dairy kids were disbudded at 3–10 days of age with one of six disbudding treatments (clove oil injection, caustic paste, two cryosurgical methods, heat-cautery, and sham procedure). Heat cautery was 91% effective, caustic paste was 55% effective, and the other treatments were ineffective. Heat cautery and sham procedures resulted in similar vocalization efforts; freezing with a liquid-nitrogen cooled iron resulted in significantly greater vocalization numbers. No unintended paste transfer injuries were observed with short-term application of the caustic paste. Heat cautery resulted in numerous superficial infections but no permanent injury. Clove oil injection was associated with several unexpected and severe complications including unintended tissue necrosis, temporary paresis, skull defects, meningitis, and death. Collectively, we did not find that any of the alternative methods of disbudding provided a feasible option over heat cautery to improve welfare.

Castration of male piglets in the United States is conducted without analgesics because no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved products are labeled for pain control in swine. The absence of approved products is primarily due to a wide variation in how pain is measured in suckling piglets and the lack of validated pain-specific outcomes individually indistinct from other biological responses, such as general stress or inflammation responses with cortisol. Simply put, to measure pain mitigation, measurement of pain must be specific, quantifiable, and defined. Therefore, given the need for mitigating castration pain, a consortium of researchers, veterinarians, industry, and regulatory agencies was formed to identify potential animal-based outcomes and develop a methodology, based on the known scientific research, to measure pain and the efficacy of mitigation strategies. The outcome-based measures included physiological, neuroendocrine, behavioral, and production parameters. Ultimately, this consortium aims to provide a validated multimodal methodology to demonstrate analgesic drug efficacy for piglet castration.Measurable outcomes were selected based on published studies suggesting their validity, reliability, and sensitivity for the direct or indirect measurement of pain associated with surgical castration in piglets. Outcomes to be considered are observation of pain behaviors (i.e. ethogram defined behaviors and piglet grimace scale), gait parameters measured with a pressure mat, infrared thermography of skin temperature of the cranium and periphery of the eye, and blood biomarkers. Other measures include body weight and mortality rate.This standardized measurement of the outcome variable's primary goal is to facilitate consistency and rigor by developing a research methodology utilizing endpoints that are well-defined and reliably measure pain in piglets. The resulting methodology will facilitate and guide the evaluation of the effectiveness of comprehensive analgesic interventions for 3- to 5-day-old piglets following surgical castration.

Cautery disbudding is a painful procedure performed on goat kids to prevent horn growth that may result in brain injury. Thermal damage to the cerebral cortex of the brain and subsequent neurologic disease is a primary concern. Cautery iron application time may affect transmission of heat to the brain; however, research in this area is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of iron application time on brain injury of goat kids. A total of six buck and doe kids <9 days of age were obtained from a commercial dairy and transported to an Iowa State University research facility. Kids received a different randomly assigned application time (5, 10, 15, or 20s) on each horn bud. Kids were disbudded using an electric cautery iron (under isoflurane general anesthesia). After a 5-day observation period, the kids were euthanized, and magnetic resonance (MR) images were acquired to evaluate brain injury. Additionally, four of the six kids were presented for gross examination and two kids were selected for histopathologic examination. From the MR images, white matter edema was observed subjacent to four treated areas, representing application times of 5 s (one horn bud), 15 s (one horn bud), and 20 s (two horn buds). With the exception of the horn bud that received 5 s, which had white matter edema restricted to a single gyrus, the remaining three groups had a branching region of edema. No bone abnormalities were identified on any kids. Gross evidence of discoloration and hemorrhage on the cerebral hemispheres was observed on two horn buds that received 20 s, two horn buds that received 15 s, and one horn bud that received 10 s. Microscopic lesions consisting of leptomeningeal and cerebrocortical necrosis were observed in sections of brain from all groups. Lesions were most severe with 20 s. In conclusion, all application times used in this study resulted in some level of brain injury; however, using 15 s or more resulted in more severe and consistent brain injury. These results indicate that extended iron application time may increase the risk of brain injury in cautery disbudded kids.

: We evaluated the effect of pain mitigation strategies (isoflurane and meloxicam) on the behaviour and physiology of 3-week-old disbudded goat kids. Fifty Saanen does (mean ± SD, 21 ± 3 days old) were randomly allocated to one of five treatments: (1) cautery-disbudded (CAUT), (2) CAUT + isoflurane (ISO), (3) CAUT + isoflurane + meloxicam (ISO+MEL), (4) CAUT + meloxicam (MEL), and (5) handled without disbudding or pain relief (SHAM). Blood samples were taken immediately prior to treatment and at 15-, 60- and 120-min post-treatment to assess cortisol, glucose and lactate concentrations. Behaviour (head shaking and scratching, body shaking, feeding and self-grooming) was observed for 1 h pre- and post-treatment using video-cameras. ISO + MEL and ISO kids had lower cortisol concentrations than CAUT kids 15 min post-treatment (p ≤ 0.05). There was no effect of treatment or time for glucose and lactate concentrations (p ≥ 0.62). At 35 min post-treatment, CAUT, MEL and ISO kids performed more head shakes than SHAM kids (p ≤ 0.05). Isoflurane, with or without meloxicam, may reduce acute stress associated with disbudding of 3-week-old goat kids. More research is needed to assess whether isoflurane (with or without meloxicam) can provide sufficient pain relief for disbudding 3-week-old kids.

Cautery disbudding of goat kids causes thermal burns and tissue destruction, which results in acute and post-operative pain and negatively affects animal welfare. The objectives of this study were to evaluate acute cortisol concentrations and behavioral responses associated with (1) injecting a lidocaine ring block prior to cautery disbudding and comparing this to saline injections and (2) pain mitigation strategies (lidocaine ring block, topical eutectic mixture of local anesthetics (EMLA) cream, oral meloxicam) on cautery disbudded dairy goat kids. Sixty doe kids were allocated to one of six treatments: (1) disbudding without pain relief (DB), (2) a ring block using 1% lidocaine (DBLA) 20 min before disbudding, (3) saline injection (DBSA) 20 min before disbudding, (4) oral meloxicam 60 min before disbudding (DBMEL), (5) EMLA cream rubbed into the buds 60 min before disbudding (DBEM) and (6) handled but not disbudded (HAND). Blood was sampled pre- (-20 and -5 min) and post-treatment (15 and 30 min) to assess plasma cortisol concentrations and behavior during treatment was recorded using video cameras to assess rump movements, tail shakes and vocalizations (values presented as number/treatment). DBLA and DBSA kids showed elevated cortisol above baseline 5 min pre-disbudding (after injections) (P ≤ 0.01), which was no different to cortisol 15 min post-disbudding (P > 0.05). Rump movements and tail shakes of DBLA (5.5 ± 0.8 and 6.9 ± 1.2) and DBSA kids (5.6 ± 0.8 and 7.2 ± 1.2) were no different to those of DB kids (P > 0.10). Cortisol was elevated from baseline for 30 min post-disbudding for DBEM kids and DBMEL kids (P ≤ 0.05). Rump movements, tail shakes and vocalizations of DBEM (5.7 ± 0.8, 6.3 ± 1.2 and 11.1 ± 1.6) and DBMEL kids (5.3 ± 0.8, 8.0 ± 1.2 and 9.1 ± 1.6) were no different to those of DB kids (P > 0.05). HAND kids showed no change in cortisol over time (P > 0.10) and performed fewer rump movements, tail shakes and vocalizations than all treatments (P ≤ 0.01). In conclusion, lidocaine injection using a ring block appears to cause more pain than handling alone and may not reduce pain associated with cautery disbudding; therefore, a lidocaine ring block may not be a useful pain mitigation strategy for disbudding dairy goat kids. There was no evidence that meloxicam reduced acute pain and EMLA cream may have intensified the pain associated with disbudding. Further research on efficacious pain mitigation strategies for cautery disbudding of dairy goat kids is required.

As the reliance upon automated systems in the livestock industry increases, technologies need to be developed which can be incorporated into these systems to monitor animal health and welfare. Infrared thermography (IRT) is one such technology that has been used for monitoring animal health and welfare and, through automation, has the potential to be integrated into automated systems on-farm. This study reports on an automated system for collecting thermal infrared images of calves and on the development and validation of an algorithm capable of automatically detecting and analysing the eye and cheek regions from those images. Thermal infrared images were collected using an infrared camera integrated into an automated calf feeder. Images were analysed automatically using an algorithm developed to determine the maximum eye and cheek (3 × 3-pixel and 9 × 9-pixel areas) temperatures in a given image. Additionally, the algorithm determined the maximum temperature of the entire image (image maximum temperature). In order to validate the algorithm, a subset of 350 images analysed using the algorithm were also analysed manually. Images analysed using the algorithm were highly correlated with manually analysed images for maximum image (R2 = 1.00), eye (R2 = 0.99), cheek 3 × 3-pixel (R2 = 0.85) and cheek 9 × 9-pixel (R2 = 0.90) temperatures. These findings demonstrate the algorithm to be a suitable method of analysing the eye and cheek regions from thermal infrared images. Validated as a suitable method for automatically detecting and analysing the eye and cheek regions from thermal infrared images, the integration of IRT into automated on-farm systems has the potential to be implemented as an automated method of monitoring calf health and welfare.

Limited scientific literature is available for developing ‘best practice’ guidelines for the management of dairy goats ( Capra hircus ), particularly goat kids. Disbudding practices for kids and calves appear to be similar; however, it is important to recognise that kids are not small calves. Disbudding causes pain and is performed on calves and kids — welfare concerns surrounding disbudding affect both industries. In this review, we evaluate literature on disbudding of kids and calves and compare methodologies across the two species. In addition, we catalogue behavioural and physiological responses to disbudding and, finally, review alternatives to disbudding (or refinements). Although there may be certain similarities between the response of goat kids and calves to cautery disbudding, it is important to highlight the differences that do exist between the species to reduce the risk of potential detrimental effects (eg brain injury). Cautery disbudding is the most common and efficacious method of disbudding kids and calves; however, kids have thinner skulls and are disbudded at a younger age, which can increase the risk of thermal injury to the brain. Kids and calves show behavioural and physiological responses indicative of pain; however, variability in these responses between studies are likely due to differences in disbudding methodologies, study design and within-species variation. Effective pain mitigation strategies may differ across species; therefore, future research is needed to optimise pain mitigation strategies for kids. Currently, alternatives to cautery disbudding including: (i) selection for polled animals; (ii) managing horned animals; or (iii) the development of novel disbudding methods (eg cryosurgery, clove oil injection) have been deemed unsuitable by the industries as the methods are either impracticable or ineffective. Therefore, if disbudding is to continue, species-appropriate pain mitigation strategies need to be refined. Establishing best practice guidelines for disbudding kids requires managers to recognise that they are not small calves.

Eye temperature measured using infrared thermography (IRT) can be used as a non-invasive measure of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in cattle. The objective of this study was to evaluate if changes in eye temperature (measured using IRT) can be used to non-invasively measure ANS activity in sheep. Twenty, 2 to 4-year-old, Romney ewes were randomly assigned to receive either epinephrine (EPI) or physiological saline (SAL) for 5 min administered via jugular catheter (n = 10 ewes/treatment). Eye temperature (°C) was recorded continuously using IRT for approximately 25 min before and 20 min after the start of infusion. Heart rate and heart rate variability, measured using the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and the standard deviation of all inter-beat intervals (SDNN), were recorded for 5 min before and up to 10 min after the start of infusion. Blood samples were taken before and after the infusion period to measure plasma epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol and packed cell volume (PCV) concentrations. During the infusion period, maximum eye temperature was on average higher (P<0.05) in sheep that received epinephrine than those that received saline. On average, heart rate was higher (SAL: 87.5 beats/min, EPI: 123.2 beats/min, SED = 7.07 beats/min; P<0.05), and RMSSD (SAL: 55.3 ms, EPI: 17.3 ms, SED = 14.18 ms) and SDNN (SAL: 54.3 ms, EPI: 21.5 ms, SED = 10.00 ms) lower (P<0.05) in ewes during the 5 min post-infusion period compared with ewes that received saline. An infusion of epinephrine resulted in higher geometric mean epinephrine (P<0.05) and cortisol (P<0.05) but not norepinephrine (P>0.05) concentrations in ewes compared to an infusion of saline. PCV concentrations were higher (P<0.001) by 7 ± 1.0% (mean±SED) in ewes after an epinephrine infusion. These results suggest that heart rate variability is a sensitive, non-invasive method that can be used to measure ANS activity in sheep, whereas change in eye temperature measured using IRT is a less sensitive method.

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.

Measured using infrared thermography (IRT), changes in eye temperature, can be used to non-invasively measure pain in response to husbandry procedures such as disbudding in calves. Previous studies have manually recorded IRT in controlled studies, however, it would be of interest to determine if IRT could be used to measure changes in eye temperature in response to pain in an automated on-farm system. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if IRT could be used to detect pain in dairy calves in response to disbudding on-farm. At 3 wk of age, 51 Friesian 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 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and DB (NSAID+DB, n = 9) and 5) administration of LA, NSAID and DB (LA+NSAID+DB, n = 10). Eye temperature was measured using an IRT camera located next to an automatic calf milk feeder for 3 days before and after disbudding. During each calf’s visit to the feeder, IRT images were automatically recorded for the duration of the feeding bout. A mixed model analysis with splines was used to determine the effect of treatment on eye temperature over time. There was no overall effect of disbudding treatment on eye temperature (P = 0.22), but temperature appeared to increase in calves after disbudding or sham handling (P = 0.036). On average, calves visited the calf feeder 4 times/day, which may have been too infrequent to collect sufficient IRT images to detect a difference in eye temperature in response to disbudding. However, the increase in eye temperature after disbudding and handling may reflect a general stress response. Therefore, the automated use of IRT to measure eye temperature may be a useful non-invasive method to measure stress in calves.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a buccal meloxicam formulation on the behavioural response to ring castration of calves. Sixty, 3-month-old, Angus calves (40 males, 20 females) were allocated to one of three treatments (n = 20 calves/treatment): (1) rubber ring castration (RING), (2) buccal formulation of meloxicam plus rubber ring castration (RING + BUCC) and (3) handled only (CON). After treatment, calves were observed in five pens (n = 4 calves/treatment/pen) and behaviour individually recorded for 1 min every 20 min, until 3 h post-treatment (9 min/calf). Castrated calves (RING and RING + BUCC) spent less time standing (P < 0.001) and more time lying (P = 0.001) than CON calves. RING and RING + BUCC calves were also observed standing in a stretched positon (P = 0.001) and walking abnormally (P = 0.001) more than CON calves. Further, RING and RING + BUCC calves performed more kicks (P = 0.008) and less pawing (P = 0.04) than CON calves. RING + BUCC calves tended to ruminate (P = 0.085) more than RING calves. Ring castration caused behavioural changes in calves indicative of pain, however, administering a buccal formulation of meloxicam to calves immediately before ring castration did not appear to reduce the acute pain response to this procedure. To thoroughly evaluate the efficacy of a buccal formulation of meloxicam on the pain response to ring castration of calves it may be necessary to observe the animals for longer and to investigate the timing of drug administration further.

The aim of this series of studies was to evaluate the behavioral and physiological responses (experiment 1), the electroencephalographic response (experiment 2), and the efficacy (experiment 3) of cryoablation to determine if it could provide an alternative to cautery disbudding (DB) for calves. In experiment 1, at approximately 3 d of age, 58 female Friesian dairy calves were allocated to one of five treatments: (1) control handling (CON, n = 11), (2) cautery DB (n = 11), DB plus local anesthetic (n = 12), DB using cryoablation (CR, n = 12), and CR plus local anesthetic (n = 12). Behavioral and physiological (complete blood cell counts and plasma cortisol concentrations) measures were recorded for up to 4 and 72 h post-treatment, respectively. In experiment 2, at approximately 4 d of age, the electroencephalographic response was recorded in 20 male and female Friesian-cross dairy calves disbudded using cautery (DB, n = 10) or cryoablation (CR, n = 10). In experiment 3, at approximately 4 d of age, 274 female Friesian-cross dairy calves were enrolled from two dairy farms and each calf had one of two treatments randomly assigned to each horn bud: cryoablation applied for 10 s (CR-10, n = 274 buds) or 15 s (CR-15, n = 274 buds). At approximately 6 months of age, calves were checked for scur or horn growth. In experiment 1, DB calves spent less (P < 0.05) time lying than DB plus local anesthetic, CR, and CR plus local anesthetic calves. At 3 h post-treatment, the total white blood cell counts and neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio were higher (P < 0.05) in CR than DB and CON calves. Plasma cortisol concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) 30 min after DB and CR compared with CON; however, concentrations did not differ between DB and CR calves. Cortisol concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) in CR calves 90 min post-treatment compared with all other treatments. In experiment 2, cryoablation elicited increases in median frequency and 95% spectral edge frequency and a decrease in total power, whereas cautery elicited an increase in 95% spectral edge frequency only. In experiment 3, cryoablation successfully prevented horn growth in only 19% and 33% of CR-10 and CR-15 calves, respectively. Spraying liquid nitrogen directly onto the horn bud region appeared to cause more acute pain than cautery DB and did not effectively prevent horn growth. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.