Assessment and Mitigation of Pain During and After Castration in Beef Calves
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2018-04-03
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Abstract
Castration is a painful common husbandry procedure done in order to reduce aggressive behaviour, avoid unwanted mating and improve meat quality. Physiological and behavioural changes indicative of pain/discomfort have been reported after castration; however castration is commonly performed without the use of pain control. There is a lack of science based guidelines on pain mitigation strategies for castration in beef calves. The objective of this thesis was to assess and mitigate pain associated with castration in young and weaned beef calves. The first part of the study focused on assessing acute pain. Indicators of acute pain were evaluated to assess the effect of band and knife castration in 1 week, 2 month and 4 month old calves, the effect of a single dose of subcutaneous meloxicam administered immediately before band and knife castration in 1 week old calves, and the effect of a single dose of subcutaneous meloxicam administered immediately before knife castration or the combination of knife castration and branding in 2 month old calves. The second part of the study consisted of assessing pain in weaned beef calves after knife castration up to 28 days after castration. Indicators of pain were evaluated to assess the effect of a single subcutaneous injection of meloxicam administered 6, 3 and 0 hours prior to knife castration and the administration of lidocaine or meloxicam alone or in combination prior to knife castration in weaned calves. Behavioural and physiological changes were observed after castration at all ages, however, a greater number of physiological and behavioural parameters showed differences in knife castrated compared to band castrated calves, after multiple painful procedures compared to single painful procedures and in older calves compared to young calves. A reduction in behavioural and physiological responses was observed in calves that received pain mitigation at different ages and after different castration methods. Effective and practical pain mitigation strategies identified at different ages and after different castration methods could be used to improve calf welfare post castration. These include subcutaneous administration of meloxicam to reduce pain and inflammation associated with castration and the use of lidocaine to block procedural pain.
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Meléndez, D. M. (2018). Assessment and Mitigation of Pain During and After Castration in Beef Calves (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31772