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Fact Sheet 1
Helping farmers profit from pain management
Pain management
at disbudding
– worth the effort?
If cattle could talk to us they would probablyexpress their anger, in no uncertain terms, at beingexpected to undergo painful procedures withoutpain relief.This isn’t a kind of “feel-good” fantasy. Itis entirely reasonable to suppose that animalsexperience pain in a similar way to humans. In fact,experimental work has shown that the neuralpathways of sensation are similar in all mammals.
You can imagine what it must be like for a calf toexperience disbudding. It must hurt like hell!Veterinarians have become more and more awareof the importance of pain management in recentyears.They know about the research findingsshowing that animals bounce back to productivityand profitability much sooner when pain andinflammation management practices are employed.
Under the radar
Sometimes, however, the pain associated withdisbudding gets under the radar. It’s not hard to seewhy. Very few vets are doing disbudding of calvesand many other operators are reluctant to do Metacam® 20 being administered
anything fancy for pain relief. That’s fine, but it maybe up to you as a farmer to take the lead andensure that pain relief treatment is used.
Brought to you by Metacam® 20
One recent study * demonstrated that calves Pain management is up to you
treated with meloxicam – the active in Metacam® 20– displayed considerably less pain sensitivity than So what are the implications for modern farm the control group treated with saline. Though the management? The study found that disbudding calves couldn’t talk, the meloxicam treated animals causes long-term pain which is clearly at odds with animal welfare principles. It also found that the use herdmates. Ear flicking and head shaking, classic of meloxicam was effective in alleviating the symptoms of pain, were far less evident in the chronic pain that is an inevitable result of a treated calves for at least 28 hours following disbudding. This study also found that meloxicamtreated calves had significantly lower serum The message is clear. Disbudding is extremely cortisol† levels long term – a clear indicator of painful. You can see with your own eyes when lower stress response – than untreated animals.
calves are suffering – and now you can dosomething to prevent it. The truth is, it is often upto you as a farmer to take the high ground andensure that effective pain management measuresare employed, whether or not your veterinarian isinvolved in the actual disbudding procedure. If youhave your animals’ welfare at heart – and whodoesn’t these days – effective pain management isdefinitely worth the effort.
*A. Heinrich1,3,T. Duffield1,3, K Lissemore2,3, E>J Squires1,3, and S.T. Millman1,3.
1 Ontario Veterinary College, Guelph, ON, Canada,2 Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, ON, Canada3 University of Guelph, Guelph ON, Canada † Cortisol – the hormone associated with stress Prescription Animal Remedy (P.A.R) Class I. For use only under the authority or prescription of a veterinarian. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No.A7982. See www.nzfsa.govt.nz/acvm for registration conditions.
New Zealand: Boehringer Ingelheim (NZ) Limited,Vetmedica Division, Level 1, Unit 9, 42 Ormiston Rd, East Tamaki,Auckland. Toll free: 0800 802 461. Australia: Boehringer Ingelheim Pty Limited ABN 52 000 452 308. Vetmedica
Division, 85 Waterloo Road, North Ryde NSW 2113. Toll free: 1800 226 315. Metacam® 20 is a trademark of BI Vetmedica GmbH, 55216 Ingelheim/Rhein.

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