Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves
Tiarna Scerri, Sabrina Lomax, Peter Thomson, Benjamin Kimble, Peter White, Merran Govendir, Cameron Clark, Dominique Van der Saag

TL;DR
Medicated meloxicam pellets provided longer-lasting pain relief for disbudded calves compared to injections, reducing inflammation and improving behavior over a 7-day period.
Contribution
A novel grain-based meloxicam pellet treatment was tested for prolonged pain relief in disbudded calves.
Findings
Medicated pellets reduced horn site inflammation over 7 days compared to injections.
Calves on pellets showed fewer pain-specific behaviors and more positive social behaviors.
Prolonged meloxicam administration via pellets improved calf welfare outcomes.
Abstract
Disbudding is the removal of a calf’s horn buds before they fuse to the skull, inducing inflammation at the horn sites and associated pain and discomfort that is detrimental to calf welfare. Current conventional practice includes the administration of a meloxicam injection to ease inflammation. However, this treatment only lasts up to 44 h following administration. The pain and discomfort associated with disbudding is suggested to last for up to two weeks. Recognising the need for longer-lasting pain relief, this experiment tested a novel treatment whereby grain-based pellets formulated with meloxicam were fed to disbudded calves over a 7-day period. In comparison to a conventional meloxicam injection, the medicated meloxicam pellet treatment resulted in less inflammation across the 7-day feeding period. Calves treated with the medicated pellets also exhibited less pain-specific…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAnimal Behavior and Welfare Studies · Veterinary Equine Medical Research · Reproductive Physiology in Livestock
