Evaluation of pain and stress mitigation strategies during thermal disbudding in Jersey crossbred calves

Introduction

Disbudding refers to the removal or destruction of the horn bud and horn-producing cells before they attach to the periosteum of the frontal bone. Generally, disbudding is carried out before the calf reaches 3 months of age. The objective of disbudding or dehorning is to enhance the mental and physical comfort of the animals and improve worker safety (Gottardo et al., 2011). The reasons for performing disbudding include a decreased risk of fights and animal injuries, increased staff and labor safety, and reduced floor space allowance for animals. Commonly, disbudding is performed using surgical, chemical, or thermal methods. Thermal disbudding using hot iron or cauterization is widely followed worldwide, but it can cause pain and stress at any age in cattle (Stafford and Mellor, 2005) and also causes thirddegree burns where the hot iron is applied and first and second-degree burns on the surrounding tissue of the horn buds (Adcock and Tucker, 2018). Pain management for disbudding or dehorning of cattle is a significant animal welfare issue in the dairy industry (Ventura et al., 2015). The painful procedure of disbudding can lead to changes in behavior, physiological parameters, and increased secretion of stress hormones (Stewart et al., 2008). Numerous studies (Duffield et al., 2010;Stilwell et al., 2012;Huber et al., 2013 andStock et al., 2015) have reported that the combined application of anesthetic and analgesic agents (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, such as ketoprofen, meloxicam, carprofen, flunixin, and firocoxib) during or after disbudding/dehorning alleviates pain and stress and promotes animal welfare. Hence, the NSAID is the most powerful pain-relieving compound in many species of animals. Therefore, this present study aims to document the effectiveness of using short-acting (meloxicam) and long-acting (tolfenamic acid) Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) as a strategy for pain and stress management. Additionally, it also explores their role in augmenting animal welfare during and after thermal disbudding in Jersey crossbred calves.

Materials and methods

The present study was carried out at the Cattle and Buffalo Breeding Unit (CBBU), Livestock Research Station (LRS), TANUVAS, Kattupakkam, Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu, India. Nine numbers of day-old weaned Jersey crossbred calves were selected based on their age (4 to 6 weeks) and body weight (35 to 40 kg). The calves were maintained under an intensive system and fed milk at the rate of 15% of their body weight, calf starter at 100 g daily, and had ad-libitum access to fresh drinking water. The selected calves were randomly divided into three groups (Treatment Groups 1, 2 and 3) with three calves in each group. All the calves in each group (TG 1, 2 and 3) have undergone hot-iron disbudding using an electrical dehorner (approximately 500°C) with a 2% lignocaine hydrochloride injection of 4 ml on each side for a cornual nerve block (Fig. 1), administered 10 minutes prior to the procedure. Furthermore, the calves in TG 2 were administered the shortacting NSAID Inj. Meloxicam intramuscularly (I/M) for three consecutive days (10 minutes prior to disbudding, 2 nd day and 3 rd day) at a dosage of 0.5 mg/kg body weight, whereas the calves in TG 3 were administered the long-acting NSAID Inj. Tolfenamic Acid (TA) intramuscularly (I/M) with a single dose of 2 mg/kg body weight ten minutes prior to the procedure. The reason for selecting these two NSAIDs is their analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory properties, along with their good therapeutic response in veterinary medicine (Lees et al., 2004). The pain and stress indicators of behavioral parameters suggested by Herskin and Nielsen (2018) and Graf and Senn (1999) were physically observed for during and after 4 hours of the disbudding procedure. The indicators' behavioral parameters were listed in table 1. In this table, the symbol "×" indicates the particular behavioral sign present in a calf, and the symbol "-" indicates the mentioned behavioral sign not present in a calf during the physically observed period. Similarly, physiological parameters (rectal temperature, respiration rate, heart rate, and pulse rate) were monitored manually once, 10 minutes before the procedure, and followed for 10 minutes after the procedure and the next two consecutive days. The average physiological parameters recorded 10 minutes prior were considered as control parameters in all the experimental groups for calculation and comparison purposes. The production parameter such as body weight gain was recorded at fortnightly intervals for a month in all the treatment group calves. Immediately after disbudding, the povidone iodine antiseptic ointment was applied to the horn buds removed in and around the area for all the experimental calves. It was preventing fly annoyance and enhancing the wound healing process. The data on physiological and production parameters was analyzed using descriptive statistics on the Dunn-Bonferroni post-hoc test using GraphPad Prism statistical software (version 5.03).

Results and discussion

Behavioral indicators of pain and stress

The presence and absence of behavioral indicators of pain and stress during disbudding and after 4 hours associated with thermal disbudding are shown in Table 1. Among the treatment groups, during the disbudding procedure, TG 1 calves exhibited more behavior disturbances like bellowing, head rubbing, struggling, kicking, urination and defecation. Whereas TG 2 was exhibited with a head shake and ear flick and TG 3 was exhibited with head shake and head rub, respectively. The results revealed that TG 1 calves experienced the highest frequency of behavioral disturbances related to pain and stress during the disbudding procedure, compare to TG 2 and TG 3 calves.

Similarly, after 4 hours of the post-operative disbudding procedure, TG 1 alone exhibited behavioral changes in posture, continuous standing, grooming, self-grooming, and tears in eyes. Due to scratching the head on the wall, the disbudding wound was further aggravated in TG 1 calves. Positive behavioral responses, viz., calf lying, rumination, feeding and drinking, were comparatively higher in TG 2 and TG 3 groups. The results revealed that the NSAIDadministered calves (TG 2 and TG 3) effectively mitigated the pain and stress as compared to non-NSAID administered calves (TG 1). The results from the present study are in agreement with the finding that 2% lignocaine hydrochloride, along with short-acting meloxicam administered for three days and a single dose of long-acting tolfenamic acid, effectively mitigated pain and stress during and after the fourhour disbudding period. Similar to this finding, Faulkner and Weary (2000) found that the NSAID drug ketoprofen has reduced the pain after hot-iron dehorning in Holstein calves. Heinrich et al. (2010) also reported that the combination of lidocaine and meloxicam has effectively reduced ear flick and head shake during cautery dehorning. McMeekan et al. (1998) also found that providing animals with NSAIDs significantly reduced the normally observed increase in plasma cortisol during electrical dehorning. The NSAID is considered to bind preferentially to cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis and reduce the pain in the calf.

Physiological indicators of pain and stress

The effect of thermal disbudding on Jersey crossbred calves on physiological indicators viz., rectal temperature (R/T), heart rate (H/R), respiration rate (R/R), and pulse rate (P/R) before disbudding (Control -C) and after disbudding for three consecutive days is furnished in the table.2. Immediately after disbudding, the R/T, H/R, R/R, and P/R were increased but not significantly. The H/R of all the treatment groups was significantly (P ≤0.01) changed with the control parameter on the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd days of post-disbudding period. It is justified that heart rate may increase due to pain and stress during post-operative period. The TG 2 and TG 3 physiological parameters were lower than the TG 1 during the post-disbudding period. It shows NSAID groups were mitigating the pain and stress after thermal disbudding.

Production indicators of pain and stress

The disbudding effect on production indicators was assessed through their body weight and average daily gain in Jersey crossbred calves, as shown in the table.3. The body weight and average daily gain were calculated fortnightly up to one month post-operative period. The body weight was 37.50 ± 2.18 on 0 th day and 39.33 ± 3.35 on 30 th day post disbudding in TG 1 group. The body weight was 37.67 ± 1.89 and 37.67 ± 1.26 at the day of disbudding and 41.67 ± 2.32 and 41.80 ± 2.13 at the 30 th day of post-disbudding in the TG 2 and TG 3 groups, respectively. Table 3 showed that the body weight continuously increased in all the experimental calves; TG 2 and TG 3 groups' body weight was higher than the TG 1 group at the 15 th and 30 th days of the post-operative period. The weight gain of one month post-disbudding period was also higher in TG 2 and TG 3 groups than in the TG 1 group, but not significantly. It indicated that the NSAID groups' (TG 2 and TG 3) body weight and weight gain were higher than the 2% lignocaine hydrochloride alone (TG1) group. Bates et al. (2015) contrary found no effect on the growth rate of analgesia and anti-inflammatory treatment disbudding calves. The body weight and weight gain of the TG 3 group at 30 days post-disbudding period were higher than those of the TG 2 group. It specified that the long-acting NSAID group (TG 3) effectively increased the body weight and weight gain as compared to short-acting NSAID group (TG 2). Bellowing ×--------2.

Escape attempt ---------8.

Tail flick ---------II. 4 hours post-operative period 1.

Postural changes ×--------2.

Continuous standing -×-------4.

Grooming (against the wall) -×-×--×--6.

Tear in the eyes --× ------9.

Drinking ×-× ××× ××× Symbol "×" indicate the particular behavioral sign present in a calf; Symbol "-" indicate the particular behavioral sign not present in a calf during the physically observed period

Conclusion

Based on the behavioral, physiological, and production indicators of calves, it was shown that the short-acting and long-acting NSAIDs may effectively mitigate the pain and stress during and after the disbudding period. This is also a key to augmenting animal welfare in the dairy industry.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementAuthor is extremely thankful to the Vice-Chancellor and Director of Animal Production Studies, Professor and Head, Livestock Research Station, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University for providing facilities for this study.

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