1A survey was carried out to describe the extent and current practice of cattle 2 disbudding/dehorning in the EU Member States. Disbudding was defined as removal of horns 3 in calves of up to 2 months of age, whereas dehorning was defined as removal of horns in 4 older animals. Specific questionnaires were created regarding dairy, beef, and suckler 5 production systems and they were submitted to local experts of each country belonging to 6 relevant institutions like universities, national farmers' associations, cattle breeders 7 associations, farm veterinarians and practitioners. Figures on disbudding/dehorning practices 8 were produced for each production system for both the whole European Union and the North, 9Centre, East and South EU macro-regions. A total of 652 questionnaires were collected and 10 64%, 24% and 12% of them related to dairy cattle, beef cattle and suckler cows, respectively. 11Data from the survey showed that in Europe, 81% of the dairy, 47% of the beef and 68% of 12 the suckler currently keep disbudded/dehorned animals, while the prevalence of polled cattle 13 is rather low, especially in the dairy cattle sector (5% of all cattle farms; <1% of dairy farms). 14 Regardless of production system, prevalence of dehorned animals is the highest in the North 15 macro-region. Polled cattle farms are almost exclusively located in the North where polled 16 beef breeds are raised for fattening. Dehorning is performed primarily on loose housed cattle 17 to reduce the risk of injuries for herdmates and the stockman. Dehorning is less frequently 18 performed in organic farms. As method of horns removal, disbudding is generally preferred 19 over surgical removal of the horns in older cattle. Hot-iron is the most used disbudding 20 method especially in the North and Centre. Use of caustic paste is reported more frequently in 21 the South and the East. In the large majority of EU farms, the stockman is the person in 22 charge for disbudding and some kind of medication for pain relief is administered to the 23 3 animals only in a small percentage of farms (<30%). Surgical dehorning of more aged cattle is 24 mainly performed with the wire/saw method. Compared to disbudding, it is more often carried 25 out by a veterinarian and pre-and post operative medications (44% farms) is also more 26 common. 27 28

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract