This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.
Castration has been demonstrated to cause pain in sheep. However, it is routinely performed for management purposes. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used successfully to measure pain in lambs in response to castration and other husbandry procedures in livestock. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of EEG as a measure of pain and analgesia in conscious lambs undergoing castration on farm over a 24 h period. EEG responses were compared to behavioural observations and changes in ocular temperature via infrared thermography. Twenty-four merino ram lambs (18.63 ± 2.06 kg) were used in this study. Lambs were randomly allocated to one of the following treatment groups: (1) castration with pre-surgical administration of meloxicam (0.5 mg/kg Metacam 20 mg/mL injected subcutaneously into the skin of the neck 15 min prior to recording) and lignocaine (applied via intra-testicular injection five minutes prior to castration, 2 mL lignocaine hydrochloride 20 mg/mL, Troy/Ilium) (CML, n = 8); (2) castration only (C, n = 8); (3) sham castration, handling only (SC, n = 8). EEG was recorded for 5 mins pre-procedure (prior to any intervention), and for 5 mins post-procedure at 0, 1, 4 and 24 h. Behavioural reactions to the procedure were scored, and behaviours were scan sampled at 5 min intervals at the above time points, by blinded observers. Eye temperature was measured for five-minute intervals at each time point. EEG decreased from baseline to 0 h for CML and C groups (p < 0.001), C group values returned similar to baseline at 24 h. Eye temperature increased post-castration at 0 h for C group, no initial change was seen for CML or SC groups. CML and C groups were more likely to have higher reaction scores and showed more abnormal behaviours (p = 0.017). CML and C groups had similar results, indicating minimal effect of analgesic intervention. Lambs in SC group showed significant EEG changes, suggesting that stress from handling also impacted EEG results.
Charissa Harris; Peter White; Evelyn Hall; Dominique Van der Saag; Sabrina Lomax. Evaluation of Electroencephalography, Behaviour and Eye Temperature in Response to Surgical Castration in Sheep. Animals 2021, 11, 637 .
AMA StyleCharissa Harris, Peter White, Evelyn Hall, Dominique Van der Saag, Sabrina Lomax. Evaluation of Electroencephalography, Behaviour and Eye Temperature in Response to Surgical Castration in Sheep. Animals. 2021; 11 (3):637.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCharissa Harris; Peter White; Evelyn Hall; Dominique Van der Saag; Sabrina Lomax. 2021. "Evaluation of Electroencephalography, Behaviour and Eye Temperature in Response to Surgical Castration in Sheep." Animals 11, no. 3: 637.
Pre-commercial virtual fence (VF) neckbands (eShepherd®, Agersens, Melbourne, Vic, Australia) can contain cows within a designated area without the need for physical fencing, through associative learning of a paired audio tone and electrical pulse. Cattle are gregarious, so there may be an impact of herd mates on the learning process. To evaluate this, a VF was set 30 m down one of three test paddocks with a feed attractant 70 m past the VF. Twenty-three Holstein-Friesian cows were all fitted with VF neckbands and trained as individuals or in groups (5–6) for four 10 min tests; then, cows were crossed over to the alternate context for two more 10 min tests. The number of cows breaking through the VF and the number of paired stimuli reduced across time (from 82% to 26% and 45% to 14%, respectively, p < 0.01). Cows trained in a group (88%) were more likely to interact with the VF in the crossover compared to those trained as individuals (36%) (p < 0.01), indicating an influence of group members on individual cow response. Individual training is impractical, therefore, future research should evaluate group training protocols ensuring all cows learn the VF to avoid any adverse impacts on animal welfare.
Patricia I. Colusso; Cameron E. F. Clark; Sabrina Lomax. Should Dairy Cattle be Trained to a Virtual Fence System as Individuals or in Groups? Animals 2020, 10, 1767 .
AMA StylePatricia I. Colusso, Cameron E. F. Clark, Sabrina Lomax. Should Dairy Cattle be Trained to a Virtual Fence System as Individuals or in Groups? Animals. 2020; 10 (10):1767.
Chicago/Turabian StylePatricia I. Colusso; Cameron E. F. Clark; Sabrina Lomax. 2020. "Should Dairy Cattle be Trained to a Virtual Fence System as Individuals or in Groups?" Animals 10, no. 10: 1767.
Heat stress causes significant economic losses by reducing the productivity and welfare of cattle whilst requiring a significant investment in resource for amelioration. Panting score (PS) is considered a robust indicator of cattle heat stress; however, individualised visual monitoring is impractical. Thermal index-based monitoring and mitigation decisions are applied at the herd level, but they have limited application for the individual animal. As such, an automated system to monitor the real-time animal response to heat stress is required for strategic mitigation. Our objectives were to validate an accelerometer-based ear tag sensor to monitor cattle panting and to determine individual variability in heat stress responses with reference to thermal indices. Two experiments were conducted: Experiment 1 validated the sensors, and Experiment 2 determined individual variability comparing sensor data against thermal indices. Ear tag sensors were fitted at feedlot entry to continuously monitor the behaviour of 100 steers of mixed breed in Experiment 1 and 200 steers and heifers of mixed breed in Experiment 2. Sensor-derived ‘heavy breathing’ was validated against visually observed PS. Sensor-derived behaviour bouts were analysed as ‘raw’, and single behaviour states were also converted to the preceding bout of ≥2 min, which was referred to as ‘fill’ data for the validation study. Our results demonstrate the sensors’ ability to accurately monitor panting in feedlot cattle. Sensor-recorded ‘heavy breathing’ duration per animal was highly correlated to observed panting duration for both raw (r = 0.89) and fill (r = 0.90) data; however, the concordance correlation co-efficient was lower for raw (0.45) as compared with fill (0.76). Predicted agreement for raw data were 75%, 45%, and 68% and predicted agreement for fill data were 65%, 54%, and 83% for PS0, PS1, and PS2, respectively. Sensitivity for raw data were 39%, 37%, and 45% and for fill data, they were 59%, 54% and 82% for all PS data, PS1 and PS2, respectively. Specificity and positive predictive values for both raw (77% and 79%, respectively) and fill (65% and 77%, respectively) data show the probability of reporting false positives by sensors to be low. Experiment 2 revealed that the duration of panting increased from 0800 to 1700 h alongside changes in thermal indices with significant differences between and within breed and coat colour categories of cattle, suggesting that grouping and allocating heat amelioration measures by breed and coat colour can be effective in commercial feedlots. However, there was high variability (CV > 80%) in the duration of panting between individuals within the same breed and same coat colour, revealing the potential for strategic management at an individual level, and with the same data, genetic selection for heat resilience.
Ashraful Islam; Sabrina Lomax; Amanda K. Doughty; Mohammed R. Islam; Cameron E. F. Clark. Automated Monitoring of Panting for Feedlot Cattle: Sensor System Accuracy and Individual Variability. Animals 2020, 10, 1518 .
AMA StyleAshraful Islam, Sabrina Lomax, Amanda K. Doughty, Mohammed R. Islam, Cameron E. F. Clark. Automated Monitoring of Panting for Feedlot Cattle: Sensor System Accuracy and Individual Variability. Animals. 2020; 10 (9):1518.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAshraful Islam; Sabrina Lomax; Amanda K. Doughty; Mohammed R. Islam; Cameron E. F. Clark. 2020. "Automated Monitoring of Panting for Feedlot Cattle: Sensor System Accuracy and Individual Variability." Animals 10, no. 9: 1518.
The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper
Charissa Harris; Peter John White; Virginia L. Mohler; Sabrina Lomax. Erratum: Harris, C.; White, P.J.; Mohler, V.L.; Lomax, S. Electroencephalography Can Distinguish between Pain and Anaesthetic Intervention in Conscious Lambs Undergoing Castration. Animals 2020, 10, 428. Animals 2020, 10, 1498 .
AMA StyleCharissa Harris, Peter John White, Virginia L. Mohler, Sabrina Lomax. Erratum: Harris, C.; White, P.J.; Mohler, V.L.; Lomax, S. Electroencephalography Can Distinguish between Pain and Anaesthetic Intervention in Conscious Lambs Undergoing Castration. Animals 2020, 10, 428. Animals. 2020; 10 (9):1498.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCharissa Harris; Peter John White; Virginia L. Mohler; Sabrina Lomax. 2020. "Erratum: Harris, C.; White, P.J.; Mohler, V.L.; Lomax, S. Electroencephalography Can Distinguish between Pain and Anaesthetic Intervention in Conscious Lambs Undergoing Castration. Animals 2020, 10, 428." Animals 10, no. 9: 1498.
Australian sheep routinely undergo painful surgical husbandry procedures without anaesthesia or analgesia. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been shown to be a successful measure of pain in livestock under a general anaesthetic. The aim of this study was to compare this EEG model to that of conscious lambs undergoing castration with and without local anaesthesia. Sixteen merino crossbred ram lambs 6 to 8 weeks of age (13.81kg ± 1.97) were used in the study. Lambs were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 treatment groups: (1) Conscious EEG and surgical castration with no anaesthetic intervention (CON; n = 4); (2) Conscious EEG and surgical castration with pre-operative applied intra-testicular lignocaine injection (CON + LIG; n = 4); (3) surgical castration under minimal anaesthesia (MAM; n = 4); (4) and surgical castration with pre-operative lignocaine injection (2 mL lignocaine hydrochloride 20 mg/mL, under minimal anaesthesia (MAM + LIG; n = 4). Distinct differences in the EEG parameters Ptot, F50 and F95 between pre-and post-castration in conscious lambs were demonstrated in this study (p < 0.01). Further, CON and CON + LIG treatments were distinguishable using F50 and F95 measures (p = 0.02, p = 0.04, respectively). Significant changes in the EEG output of MAM animals were identified pre- to post-castration (p < 0.01). The EEG output of MAM and MAM + LIG were similar. EEG was successful in differentiating lambs treated with pain relief in a conscious state after castration by examining F50 and F95, which may suggest the suitability of conscious EEG pain measurement.
Charissa Harris; Peter John White; Virginia L. Mohler; Sabrina Lomax. Electroencephalography Can Distinguish between Pain and Anaesthetic Intervention in Conscious Lambs Undergoing Castration. Animals 2020, 10, 428 .
AMA StyleCharissa Harris, Peter John White, Virginia L. Mohler, Sabrina Lomax. Electroencephalography Can Distinguish between Pain and Anaesthetic Intervention in Conscious Lambs Undergoing Castration. Animals. 2020; 10 (3):428.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCharissa Harris; Peter John White; Virginia L. Mohler; Sabrina Lomax. 2020. "Electroencephalography Can Distinguish between Pain and Anaesthetic Intervention in Conscious Lambs Undergoing Castration." Animals 10, no. 3: 428.
Dehorning in cattle involves the manual removal of horns which causes acute pain. Although the long-term solution to removing horns is to breed polled cattle, limitations include the complex inheritance for polled Brahman cattle, and negative interactions with productivity in dairy cattle. Best practice pain relief in the form of a local nerve block, a sedative and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug prior to the procedure usually requires a veterinarian and may be impractical for some cattle production systems. Improved livestock welfare requires a practical and cost-effective pain relief strategy for dehorning that can be readily adopted commercially. We evaluated a modified topical local anaesthetic wound formulation that can be applied by farmers immediately following dehorning. While previous studies have demonstrated a reduction in wound sensitivity, there was no effect on cortisol concentrations. It is likely that the cortisol response reflects a combination of factors including the stress of handling, the initial pain of the dehorning procedure and haemorrhage. Dehorning causes pain and distress to cattle, and there is a need to provide effective and practical analgesia to improve animal welfare. We conducted an experiment to determine the effect of a modified post-operative topical wound management formulation containing two local anaesthetics (TA) on the plasma cortisol concentration (PCC) of scoop-dehorned calves. Two months old Holstein-Friesian heifer calves (n = 30) were randomly allocated to sham dehorning control (CON), scoop dehorning (D), or scoop dehorning with immediate post-operative application of the TA (DTA). Blood samples were obtained via jugular venepuncture prior to sham or actual dehorning, and 40 min, 1.5, 4 and 24 h later. PCC changed significantly over time (p < 0.01). There was a trend for lower PCC in DTA calves compared to D calves (p = 0.09), with the PCC area under the curve lowest in CON calves as compared to D and DTA calves (p = 0.02). Cortisol concentrations were similar between D and DTA at all time points. The TA did not reduce cortisol concentrations up to 24 h following treatment and the cortisol response likely reflects the pain induced by the procedure, the effect of handling and restraint, and haemorrhaging which limited adherence of the TA actives. A multimodal analgesic approach, as assessed through multiple pain indicators, should be the focus of future work.
Crystal Espinoza; Sabrina Lomax; Peter Windsor. The Effect of Topical Anaesthesia on the Cortisol Responses of Calves Undergoing Dehorning. Animals 2020, 10, 312 .
AMA StyleCrystal Espinoza, Sabrina Lomax, Peter Windsor. The Effect of Topical Anaesthesia on the Cortisol Responses of Calves Undergoing Dehorning. Animals. 2020; 10 (2):312.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCrystal Espinoza; Sabrina Lomax; Peter Windsor. 2020. "The Effect of Topical Anaesthesia on the Cortisol Responses of Calves Undergoing Dehorning." Animals 10, no. 2: 312.
Individual cattle identification is required for precision livestock farming. Current methods for individual cattle identification requires either visual, or unique radio frequency, ear tags. We propose a deep learning based framework to identify beef cattle using image sequences unifying the advantages of both CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) and LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) network methods. A CNN network was used (Inception-V3) to extract features from a rear-view cattle video dataset and these extracted features were then used to train an LSTM model to capture temporal information and identify each individual animal. A total of 516 rear- view videos of 41 cattle at three time points separated by one month were collected. Our method achieved an accuracy of 88% and 91% for 15-frame and 20-frame video length, respectively. Our approach outperformed the framework that only uses CNN (identification accuracy 57%). Our framework will now be further improved using additional data before integrating the system into on-farm management processes.
Yongliang Qiao; Daobilige Su; He Kong; Salah Sukkarieh; Sabrina Lomax; Cameron Clark. Individual Cattle Identification Using a Deep Learning Based Framework. IFAC-PapersOnLine 2019, 52, 318 -323.
AMA StyleYongliang Qiao, Daobilige Su, He Kong, Salah Sukkarieh, Sabrina Lomax, Cameron Clark. Individual Cattle Identification Using a Deep Learning Based Framework. IFAC-PapersOnLine. 2019; 52 (30):318-323.
Chicago/Turabian StyleYongliang Qiao; Daobilige Su; He Kong; Salah Sukkarieh; Sabrina Lomax; Cameron Clark. 2019. "Individual Cattle Identification Using a Deep Learning Based Framework." IFAC-PapersOnLine 52, no. 30: 318-323.
Pasture management in Australia’s dairy industry requires the manual shifiting of temporary electric fences to maintain pasture quality and growth. Virtual fencing presents an alternative to save time and labour costs. We used automated virtual fence (VF) collars to determine the variation in learning of the virtual fence stimuli, and evaluated the success of the technology to contain cows in a predetermined area of pasture. Twelve Holstein-Friesian non-lactating multiparous dairy cows were fitted with the collars, and a VF was used to restrict cows to two grazing allocations (G1 and G2) across six days. Cows received an audio tone (AT) when they approached the virtual fence, and a paired electrical pulse (EP) if they continued forward. The VF contained cows within predetermined areas for 99% of time, but cows spent the least time near the fence (p < 0.01). The number of stimuli reduced through time, demonstrating the ability of cows to learn the VF (p = 0.01). However, the mean number of EP per day ranged from 1 to 6.5 between individuals (p < 0.01). Therefore, successful containment may have a welfare cost for some individuals. Further work should focus on this individual variation, including measures of welfare.
Sabrina Lomax; Patricia Colusso; Cameron E.F. Clark. Does Virtual Fencing Work for Grazing Dairy Cattle? Animals 2019, 9, 429 .
AMA StyleSabrina Lomax, Patricia Colusso, Cameron E.F. Clark. Does Virtual Fencing Work for Grazing Dairy Cattle? Animals. 2019; 9 (7):429.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSabrina Lomax; Patricia Colusso; Cameron E.F. Clark. 2019. "Does Virtual Fencing Work for Grazing Dairy Cattle?" Animals 9, no. 7: 429.
Plasma pharmacokinetic profiles and the anti-inflammatory efficacy of meloxicam were determined when administered subcutaneously (SC) or intramuscularly (IM) to sheep. Merino ewes were initially injected with 0.1 mL of oil of turpentine into a forelimb to induce inflammation, followed by either 1.0 mg/kg or 2.0 mg/kg of meloxicam administered either SC or IM (n = 6 per treatment group) or followed by no meloxicam administration (control) (n = 4). Ewes were examined to determine skin temperature, limb circumference, limb sensitivity and signs of lameness at 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 24 and 48 h following treatment, with blood collected at these time-points to quantify meloxicam plasma concentrations. Skin temperature of ewes dosed with meloxicam at 1.0 mg/kg SC and 2.0 mg/kg IM at 12 h and 1.0 mg/kg SC at 24 were significantly different to the controls (P < 0.05). Limb circumferences of ewes dosed with 1.0 mg/kg IM were significantly different to controls at 10 h and 12 h (P < 0.05). All meloxicam treatment groups resulted in reduced limb sensitivity compared to controls at 6 h, with the 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg IM treatments significantly different at 12 h (P < 0.05) and 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg SC groups, significantly different to controls at 48 h (P < 0.05). No significant difference in lameness scores were detected over 48 h. The 1.0 mg/kg IM treatment had a significantly greater plasma meloxicam concentration than the 1.0 mg/kg SC treatment over 0.5 to 4 h (P < 0.001). Both 1.0 mg/kg SC and IM treatments demonstrated elimination half-lives (mean ± SD) of 10.82 ± 2.46 and 12.63 ± 2.37 h, respectively. Meloxicam at all doses provided some anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects from 6 to 48 h; however no route could be distinguished as more efficacious than the others.
Alyssa N. Woodland; Dominique Van der Saag; Benjamin Kimble; Peter White; Merran Govendir; Sabrina Lomax. Plasma pharmacokinetic profile and efficacy of meloxicam administered subcutaneously and intramuscularly to sheep. PLOS ONE 2019, 14, e0215842 .
AMA StyleAlyssa N. Woodland, Dominique Van der Saag, Benjamin Kimble, Peter White, Merran Govendir, Sabrina Lomax. Plasma pharmacokinetic profile and efficacy of meloxicam administered subcutaneously and intramuscularly to sheep. PLOS ONE. 2019; 14 (4):e0215842.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlyssa N. Woodland; Dominique Van der Saag; Benjamin Kimble; Peter White; Merran Govendir; Sabrina Lomax. 2019. "Plasma pharmacokinetic profile and efficacy of meloxicam administered subcutaneously and intramuscularly to sheep." PLOS ONE 14, no. 4: e0215842.
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.
Dominique Van Der Saag; Sabrina Lomax; Peter Andrew Windsor; Evelyn Hall; Peter John White. Effect of Lignocaine and a Topical Vapocoolant Spray on Pain Response during Surgical Castration of Beef Calves. Animals 2019, 9, 126 .
AMA StyleDominique Van Der Saag, Sabrina Lomax, Peter Andrew Windsor, Evelyn Hall, Peter John White. Effect of Lignocaine and a Topical Vapocoolant Spray on Pain Response during Surgical Castration of Beef Calves. Animals. 2019; 9 (4):126.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDominique Van Der Saag; Sabrina Lomax; Peter Andrew Windsor; Evelyn Hall; Peter John White. 2019. "Effect of Lignocaine and a Topical Vapocoolant Spray on Pain Response during Surgical Castration of Beef Calves." Animals 9, no. 4: 126.
To assess the effects of a topical anaesthetic (TA) and buccal meloxicam (BM) on behaviour, maximum wound temperature and wound morphology following amputation dehorning of beef calves, 50 unweaned Hereford calves were randomly allocated to: (1) sham dehorning / control (CON, n = 14); (2) amputation dehorning (D, n = 12); (3) amputation dehorning with pre-operative buccal meloxicam (DBM, n = 12); and (4) amputation dehorning with post-operative topical anaesthetic (DTA, n = 12). Videos of the calves were captured for 3 h following treatment. Each calf was later observed for 5 min every hour and the frequency and duration of specific behaviours displayed during these focal periods was recorded. Infrared and digital photographs of dehorning wounds were collected from all dehorned calves on days 1, 3 and 7 following treatment. Infrared photographs were used to identify the maximum temperature within the wound area. Digital photographs were used to score wounds based on visual signs of inflammation and healing, using a numerical rating scale of 1 to 3, with morphological aspects of inflammation increasing and morphological aspects of healing decreasing with progressive scores. CON calves displayed fewer head shakes than all dehorned calves at 2 and 3 h following treatment (P = 0.025). CON and DTA calves displayed less head turns than DBM calves at 2 h following treatment (P = 0.036). CON calves displayed fewer combined point behaviours than all dehorned calves at 2 h following treatment (P = 0.037). All dehorning wounds had a greater maximum temperature on days 3 and 7 compared to day 1 (P = 0.003). All wound morphology scores decreased from day 1 to day 3 and wound morphology scores of DBM and DTA calves increased from day 3 to day 7 (P = 0.03). Although flystrike may have confounded these observations, no clear effects of TA or BM on behaviour, maximum wound temperature or wound morphology following dehorning of calves were observed. Further research is required to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of these products for amputation dehorning of calves.
Dominique Van Der Saag; Sabrina Lomax; Peter Andrew Windsor; Casey Taylor; Peter John White. Evaluating treatments with topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam for pain and inflammation caused by amputation dehorning of calves. PLOS ONE 2018, 13, e0198808 .
AMA StyleDominique Van Der Saag, Sabrina Lomax, Peter Andrew Windsor, Casey Taylor, Peter John White. Evaluating treatments with topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam for pain and inflammation caused by amputation dehorning of calves. PLOS ONE. 2018; 13 (6):e0198808.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDominique Van Der Saag; Sabrina Lomax; Peter Andrew Windsor; Casey Taylor; Peter John White. 2018. "Evaluating treatments with topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam for pain and inflammation caused by amputation dehorning of calves." PLOS ONE 13, no. 6: e0198808.
The 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 potentially improve welfare and production of calves following surgical castration and amputation dehorning.
Dominique Van Der Saag; Peter White; Lachlan Ingram; Jaime Manning; Peter Windsor; Peter Thomson; Sabrina Lomax. Effects of Topical Anaesthetic and Buccal Meloxicam Treatments on Concurrent Castration and Dehorning of Beef Calves. Animals 2018, 8, 35 .
AMA StyleDominique Van Der Saag, Peter White, Lachlan Ingram, Jaime Manning, Peter Windsor, Peter Thomson, Sabrina Lomax. Effects of Topical Anaesthetic and Buccal Meloxicam Treatments on Concurrent Castration and Dehorning of Beef Calves. Animals. 2018; 8 (3):35.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDominique Van Der Saag; Peter White; Lachlan Ingram; Jaime Manning; Peter Windsor; Peter Thomson; Sabrina Lomax. 2018. "Effects of Topical Anaesthetic and Buccal Meloxicam Treatments on Concurrent Castration and Dehorning of Beef Calves." Animals 8, no. 3: 35.
To evaluate the efficacy of a vapocoolant spray (VS) to provide local anaesthesia for piglets during ear notching. Randomized study. Eleven 10 day old and forty 3–5 day old Large White piglets. Temperature validation studies using thermocouples and a temperature data logger were conducted on dead and live tissue to determine optimal spray distance and duration to reduce tissue temperature to below 10 °C. A behavioural trial was conducted to assess efficacy for ear notching. Piglets were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: positive control (POS; n = 10), VS (n = 10), lignocaine (LIG; n = 10) and negative control (NEG; n = 10). Spray was administered to the margin of each ear, from a distance of 10 cm, and for a duration of 2 seconds immediately prior to ear notching. Behavioural observation was used to assess movement and vocal response, with responses categorized as no response (0) and response (1). Temperature and tissue validation studies indicated that a 2 second spray from 10 cm reduced tissue temperature to below 10 °C, and reduced response to stimulation of the skin with an 18 gauge needle (p < 0.001). There was a significant effect of treatment on response to ear notching (p < 0.001). The probability of a piglet to respond to ear notching was 98.7% for NEG piglets, compared with those treated with VS (5.3%), LIG (1.1%) and sham-notched piglets (0.9%). This study contributes new data on the pain of ear notching in piglets. The application of a topical VS prior to ear notching reduced the antinociceptive response of piglets to the procedure, similar to that of a local anaesthetic. Cryoanaesthesia presents a simple and effective option for reducing the pain response to this simple husbandry procedure.
Sabrina Lomax; Evelyn Hall; Lauren Oehlers; Peter White. Topical vapocoolant spray reduces nociceptive response to ear notching in neonatal piglets. Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia 2018, 45, 366 -373.
AMA StyleSabrina Lomax, Evelyn Hall, Lauren Oehlers, Peter White. Topical vapocoolant spray reduces nociceptive response to ear notching in neonatal piglets. Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia. 2018; 45 (3):366-373.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSabrina Lomax; Evelyn Hall; Lauren Oehlers; Peter White. 2018. "Topical vapocoolant spray reduces nociceptive response to ear notching in neonatal piglets." Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia 45, no. 3: 366-373.
The 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 alone 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 behaviour 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 improve welfare and production of calves following surgical castration and amputation dehorning.
Dominique Van der Saag; Peter White; Lachlan Ingram; Jaime Manning; Peter Windsor; Peter Thomson; Sabrina Lomax. Effects of Topical Anaesthetic and Buccal Meloxicam Treatments on Concurrent Castration and Dehorning of Beef Calves. 2018, 1 .
AMA StyleDominique Van der Saag, Peter White, Lachlan Ingram, Jaime Manning, Peter Windsor, Peter Thomson, Sabrina Lomax. Effects of Topical Anaesthetic and Buccal Meloxicam Treatments on Concurrent Castration and Dehorning of Beef Calves. . 2018; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDominique Van der Saag; Peter White; Lachlan Ingram; Jaime Manning; Peter Windsor; Peter Thomson; Sabrina Lomax. 2018. "Effects of Topical Anaesthetic and Buccal Meloxicam Treatments on Concurrent Castration and Dehorning of Beef Calves." , no. : 1.
Although the pain caused by castration of calves is a significant animal welfare issue for the beef industry, analgesia is not always used for this procedure, largely because of practical limitations associated with injectable forms of pain relief. Novel analgesic formulations have now been developed for livestock to allow topical and buccal administration, offering practical options to improve cattle welfare if shown to be effective. To assess the effects of topical anaesthetic (TA) and buccal meloxicam (BM) on average daily gain (ADG), behaviour and inflammation following surgical castration of beef calves, a total of 50 unweaned bull calves were randomly allocated to: (1) sham castration (SHAM, n=10); (2) surgical castration (C, n=10); (3) surgical castration with pre-operative buccal meloxicam (CBM, n=10); (4) surgical castration with post-operative topical anaesthetic (CTA, n=10); and (5) surgical castration with pre-operative buccal meloxicam and post-operative topical anaesthetic (CBMTA, n=10). Calves were recorded on video for 5 h following treatment and the frequency and duration of specific behaviours displayed by each animal was later observed for 5 min every hour (total of 25 min). Average daily gain was calculated 1, 2 and 6 days following treatment. Scrotal diameter measurements and photographs of wounds were collected from all castrated calves 1, 2 and 6 days following treatment to evaluate inflammation and wound healing. Infrared photographs were used to identify maximum scrotal temperature. Digital photographs were used to visually score wounds on a numerical rating scale of 1 to 5, with signs of inflammation increasing and signs of healing decreasing with progressive scores. Sham castration calves displayed significantly less, and C calves displayed significantly more foot stamps than all other calves (P=0.005). Observations on the duration of time that calves displayed a hypometric ‘stiff gait’ locomotion, indicated that SHAM calves tended to spend no time, C calves tended to spend the greatest time and all other calves tended to spend an intermediate time displaying this behaviour (P=0.06). Maximum scrotal temperatures were lower in CBM and CBMTA calves than C and CTA calves 2 days following treatment (P=0.004). There was no significant effect of treatment on ADG (P=0.7), scrotal diameter (P=0.09) or wound morphology score (P=0.5). These results suggest that TA and BM, alone or in combination, reduced pain and BM reduced inflammation following surgical castration of calves.
Dominique Van der Saag; Sabrina Lomax; P. A. Windsor; C. Taylor; P. Thomson; E. Hall; Peter White. Effects of topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam on average daily gain, behaviour and inflammation of unweaned beef calves following surgical castration. Animal 2018, 12, 2373 -2381.
AMA StyleDominique Van der Saag, Sabrina Lomax, P. A. Windsor, C. Taylor, P. Thomson, E. Hall, Peter White. Effects of topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam on average daily gain, behaviour and inflammation of unweaned beef calves following surgical castration. Animal. 2018; 12 (11):2373-2381.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDominique Van der Saag; Sabrina Lomax; P. A. Windsor; C. Taylor; P. Thomson; E. Hall; Peter White. 2018. "Effects of topical anaesthetic and buccal meloxicam on average daily gain, behaviour and inflammation of unweaned beef calves following surgical castration." Animal 12, no. 11: 2373-2381.
The aim of this study was to do determine the efficacy of the topical anaesthetic Tri-Solfen® in the amelioration of the pain of castration in piglets. The trial was conducted over a three day period, and blocked across six litters with 12 piglets treated on days one and two, and 16 on day three. The piglets were randomly allocated by weight and litter to 1 of 4 treatment groups: (i) sham castration (SHAM; n = 10); (ii) surgical castration with no anaesthetic intervention (CAST; n = 10); (iii) surgical castration with post-operative topical anaesthesia (TRI; n = 10); (iv) surgical castration with a pre-operative intra-testicular lignocaine hydrochloride injection (LIG; n = 10). Wound sensitivity testing involved von Frey monofilaments of weights 4g and 300g, and an 18 gauge needle, used to stimulate the wound and surrounding skin respectively, at various pre-determined sites. Neonatal piglets receiving topical anaesthesia (Tri-Solfen®) spray into castration wounds had significantly lower wound sensitivity responses for up to 4h, compared to those castrated following intra-testicular lignocaine injection or those with no treatment. The use of topical anaesthetic is suggested as a practical and affordable method of improving piglet welfare during castration.
Sabrina Lomax; Charissa Harris; Peter A. Windsor; Peter J. White. Topical anaesthesia reduces sensitivity of castration wounds in neonatal piglets. PLOS ONE 2017, 12, e0187988 -e0187988.
AMA StyleSabrina Lomax, Charissa Harris, Peter A. Windsor, Peter J. White. Topical anaesthesia reduces sensitivity of castration wounds in neonatal piglets. PLOS ONE. 2017; 12 (11):e0187988-e0187988.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSabrina Lomax; Charissa Harris; Peter A. Windsor; Peter J. White. 2017. "Topical anaesthesia reduces sensitivity of castration wounds in neonatal piglets." PLOS ONE 12, no. 11: e0187988-e0187988.
To evaluate the efficacy of a vapocoolant spray to provide local anaesthesia for calves during ear tagging and ear notching.Randomized study.Twenty Black Angus calves aged 4-16 weeks old.Temperature validation studies using thermocouples and a temperature data logger were conducted on dead and live tissue to determine optimal spray distance and duration to achieve tissue anaesthesia (<10 °C). A behavioural trial was conducted to assess efficacy for ear tagging and ear notching. Calves (n = 20) were randomly assigned to the vapocoolant spray (VS) or the water spray (WS) group. A 3 second spray was administered from 10 cm to both sides of the ear immediately prior to ear tagging and ear notching. A numerical rating scale (NRS) was used to score behavioural response to each procedure, with responses categorized from 0 (no response) to 3 (severe).Temperature and tissue validation studies indicated that a vapocoolant spray reduced dead and live tissue temperature to below nociceptive threshold levels (10 °C) for 10-16 seconds. Univariate analysis indicated that ear notching was more painful than ear tagging [odds ratio (OR) = 19.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.34-68.99, p < 0.001]. When adjusted for the multivariate model, there was a significant effect of treatment, with WS calves showing higher pain response scores than VS calves (OR = 4.08, 95% CI: 1.34-12.42, p = 0.011). Ear notching resulted in greater pain response scores than ear tagging (OR = 23.19, 95% CI: 6.18-87.05, p < 0.001).Vapocoolant spray induced local anaesthesia and significantly reduced the pain response to ear tagging and ear notching in calves. Ear notching is more painful than ear tagging. Cryoanaesthesia is an effective option for reducing the perioperative pain associated with these simple husbandry procedures.
Sabrina Lomax; Emily Witenden; Peter Windsor; Peter White. Effect of topical vapocoolant spray on perioperative pain response of unweaned calves to ear tagging and ear notching. Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia 2017, 44, 163 -172.
AMA StyleSabrina Lomax, Emily Witenden, Peter Windsor, Peter White. Effect of topical vapocoolant spray on perioperative pain response of unweaned calves to ear tagging and ear notching. Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia. 2017; 44 (1):163-172.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSabrina Lomax; Emily Witenden; Peter Windsor; Peter White. 2017. "Effect of topical vapocoolant spray on perioperative pain response of unweaned calves to ear tagging and ear notching." Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia 44, no. 1: 163-172.
The post-operative effects of three formulations of topical anaesthetic and a cornual nerve block on the sensitivity of scoop dehorning wounds in calves were compared in two trials. In Trial 1, 21 female Holstein dairy calves aged 8 to 24 weeks were randomly allocated to two groups: (1) scoop dehorning with a post-operative application of a novel topical anaesthetic powder (DTAP, n = 10); and (2) scoop dehorning with a post-operative application of a novel topical anaesthetic ethanol liquid (DTAE, n = 11). In Trial 2, 18 castrated male and 18 female Hereford beef calves aged 16 to 20 weeks were randomly allocated to four groups: (1) scoop dehorning with a pre-operative cornual nerve block of lignocaine (DCB, n = 9); (2) scoop dehorning with a post-operative application of the novel topical anaesthetic ethanol liquid from Trial 1 (DTAE, n = 9); (3) scoop dehorning with a post-operative application of a topical anaesthetic gel (DTAG, n = 9); and (4) sham dehorning (CON, n = 9). Sensitivity was assessed by scoring the behavioural response of calves to stimulation of the wound or skin at time points before and after treatment. In Trial 1, DTAP calves had a greater probability of displaying more severe responses than DTAE calves at 90 and 180 min (P < 0.001). In Trial 2, at 1 h, DTAG calves had a greater probability of displaying more severe responses than CON calves. At 2 h onwards, all dehorned calves had a greater probability of displaying more severe responses than CON calves (P < 0.001). There were no differences between the responses of DCB, DTAG and DTAE calves at any time point. Topical anaesthetic formulations result in almost immediate but temporary anaesthesia of the wound following scoop dehorning in calves and may provide a practical option for pain relief on-farm.
Dominique McCarthy; Peter Andrew Windsor; Charissa Harris; Sabrina Lomax; Peter John White. Effect of Topically Applied Anaesthetic Formulation on the Sensitivity of Scoop Dehorning Wounds in Calves. PLOS ONE 2016, 11, e0163181 .
AMA StyleDominique McCarthy, Peter Andrew Windsor, Charissa Harris, Sabrina Lomax, Peter John White. Effect of Topically Applied Anaesthetic Formulation on the Sensitivity of Scoop Dehorning Wounds in Calves. PLOS ONE. 2016; 11 (9):e0163181.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDominique McCarthy; Peter Andrew Windsor; Charissa Harris; Sabrina Lomax; Peter John White. 2016. "Effect of Topically Applied Anaesthetic Formulation on the Sensitivity of Scoop Dehorning Wounds in Calves." PLOS ONE 11, no. 9: e0163181.
Pain management to improve the welfare of livestock during aversive husbandry interventions is increasingly expected of global farming systems, although few products are available for use by farmers to achieve this. An exception is the ‘spray-on' topical anaesthetic (TS) formulation containing lignocaine and bupivicaine (Tri-Solfen®; Bayer Animal Health, Pymble, NSW, Australia) originally developed for the mulesing operation in sheep in Australia, where breech skin is removed to create a ‘bare area' that significantly decreases the risk of myiasis from Lucilia cuprina. Over 40 million Merino lambs have now received pain management and some flocks have continued mulesing to manage life-time risk of blowfly strike until ‘wrinkle' phenotypes are removed through genetic improvements. This innovation enabled investigations of TS spray for pain from other procedures in lambs and kids (and calves), including surgical castration, tail-docking, disbudding, ear-tagging and shearing wounds. Our observations suggest that practical pain management during surgical interventions should commence with inhibition of nociception and that TS is far more efficacious than previously considered. For multi-modal pain management, ameliorating wound sensitisation by the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID's) is increasingly available and may also have a role, particularly when cautery is used (eg tail docking and disbudding). Further modification of pain through centrally-acting drugs altering physiology and cognition, such as low dose xylazine, is also possible but requires closer veterinary supervision than is available in most extensive farming systems. We note that Tri-Solfen® use by farmers has improved welfare attitudes on many farms and the approach has potential application for global livestock industries.
P.A. Windsor; S. Lomax; P. White. Progress in pain management to improve small ruminant farm welfare. Small Ruminant Research 2016, 142, 55 -57.
AMA StyleP.A. Windsor, S. Lomax, P. White. Progress in pain management to improve small ruminant farm welfare. Small Ruminant Research. 2016; 142 ():55-57.
Chicago/Turabian StyleP.A. Windsor; S. Lomax; P. White. 2016. "Progress in pain management to improve small ruminant farm welfare." Small Ruminant Research 142, no. : 55-57.
Impracticality and cost of existing pain management strategies during surgical castration of beef cattle have limited their widespread implementation on-farm. A farmer-applied topical anaesthetic formulation, originally developed and used commercially to mitigate the pain of mulesing in lambs, was investigated for its potential use for managing pain in surgically castrated calves. This formulation contained lidocaine, bupivacaine, adrenalin and cetrimide. In this study, 24 Angus bull calves were randomly allocated to (1) surgical castration (C, n=8), (2) surgical castration with the post-operative application of topical anaesthetic (CTA, n=8) and (3) sham castration/control (CON, n=8). The experiment was conducted over 2 days, with treatment groups evenly represented across each day. Calves were habituated to handling before the experiment and blood samples were collected for plasma cortisol measurement at defined time periods before, at and post treatment, (at -0.5, 0 h, then +0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 4 and 6 h). There was a significant effect of time on cortisol concentrations across all treatment groups (P<0.01), with lowest concentrations at -0.5 and 6 h and peak concentration at 0.5 h being significantly higher than the cortisol response at 0 h. The effect of treatment was not significant (P=0.077), however, there was a trend for CON calves to display lower cortisol concentrations than C and CTA calves and CTA calves to display lower cortisol concentrations than C calves. The mean area under the curve (AUC) of CON calves was significantly lower than those of C and CTA calves (P=0.04), however, there was no significant difference between the AUCs of CTA and C calves. Immediate application of topical anaesthetic after surgical castration did not significantly reduce plasma cortisol concentrations. However, the trend for CTA calves to display lower cortisol concentrations than C calves warrants further investigation into the use of TA for pain relief of surgically castrated beef calves.
D. McCarthy; Sabrina Lomax; P.A. Windsor; P.J. White. Effect of a topical anaesthetic formulation on the cortisol response to surgical castration of unweaned beef calves. Animal 2016, 10, 150 -156.
AMA StyleD. McCarthy, Sabrina Lomax, P.A. Windsor, P.J. White. Effect of a topical anaesthetic formulation on the cortisol response to surgical castration of unweaned beef calves. Animal. 2016; 10 (1):150-156.
Chicago/Turabian StyleD. McCarthy; Sabrina Lomax; P.A. Windsor; P.J. White. 2016. "Effect of a topical anaesthetic formulation on the cortisol response to surgical castration of unweaned beef calves." Animal 10, no. 1: 150-156.