Pain Management for Ruminants During Common Farm Husbandry Procedures

Stilwell, George; Windsor, Peter

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-61981-7_2

Cited by 5 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…Millions of global farm animals experience painful livestock management procedures annually and there is an increased requirement for producers to implement pain management protocols on farms, although in many countries, options for on-farm analgesia are limited (68). Whilst further research is needed on objective measurement of pain in food animals, the use of multimodal analgesia using local anesthetics and particularly TAF, with an NSAID and in particular meloxicam, are currently considered the best options for on-farm analgesia in Australia (44,69). Further research on pain assessment and amelioration, including applications for inflammatory (57,58) and neuropathic conditions are necessary to achieve best practice in livestock pain management (68,69).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst further research is needed on objective measurement of pain in food animals, the use of multimodal analgesia using local anesthetics and particularly TAF, with an NSAID and in particular meloxicam, are currently considered the best options for on-farm analgesia in Australia (44,69). Further research on pain assessment and amelioration, including applications for inflammatory (57,58) and neuropathic conditions are necessary to achieve best practice in livestock pain management (68,69).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Progress With Livestock Welfare in Extensive Production Systems: Lessons From Australia

Windsor

2021

Front. Vet. Sci.

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The extensive livestock production industries are vital to the national economy of Australia. Continuing improvements to extensively-raised livestock welfare is desirable, necessary and in some situations mandatory, if the social license for animal sourced food and fiber production is to continue sustainably. However, meeting increasingly high welfare standards is challenging. The changing climate in this millennium, has seen the occurrence of two of the most severe drought periods on record in Australia, resulting in complex welfare issues arising from unforeseen disease, trade and environmental catastrophes. The onset of the first drought coincided with an uncontrolled epidemic of ovine paratuberculosis. It ended just prior to a temporary ban on live export of tropical cattle to Indonesia that induced a major market failure and led to severe morbidity and mortality on some beef properties. The second drought period progressed in severity and culminated in the most extreme bushfires recorded, causing unprecedented levels of mortality, morbidity and suffering in farmed animals and wildlife. Temperature extremes have also caused periodic heat-associated or cold-induced hyopthermia losses, requiring increased vigilance and careful management to reduce both temperature-induced stress during transport and the high ovine peri-parturient losses traditionally observed in extensive sheep farming. Several issues remain controversial, including surgical mulesing of wool sheep to manage flystrike, and the continuing live export trade of sheep and cattle. However, in reviewing the increasingly complex welfare challenges for the extensive livestock population industries that are export trade dependent and remain vulnerable to welfare activism, it appears progress has been made. These include development of prescribed livestock welfare Standards and Guidelines and the introduction of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) to address export concerns. Further, the sheep mulesing crisis led to improved producer welfare attitudes and practices, including pain management during aversive husbandry procedures that is now occurring globally. Finally, innovations in animal welfare surveillance and assessment, are additional encouraging signs that suggest improving change management of extensive farm animal welfare is occurring that provides lessons well-beyond Australian shores.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress With Livestock Welfare in Extensive Production Systems: Lessons From Australia

Windsor

2021

Front. Vet. Sci.

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“…This includes assessments and treatments applied to the more common husbandry procedures [ 7 ] and, most recently, some diseases [ 4 ]. The increasing evidence based on pain management strategies has informed the multitudes of recommendations, extension advice, guidelines and policies that have been generated to improve animal welfare in the major farmed species, mainly in developed countries [ 4 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pain is a protective biological mechanism alerting individuals to the onset of potential tissue damage and is recognised as inducing both a sensory and emotional experience that significantly affects animal welfare. When pain is unmanaged, it raises societal concerns and potentially compromises commodity markets because of deleterious impacts on the reputation and the socioeconomics of livestock production [ 5 , 9 ]. Pain has generally been classified as acute, inflammatory and neuropathic and although the physiological mechanisms have been reviewed [ 8 , 9 ], understanding of the physiology of pain perception and how to mitigate it is still developing [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Topical Anaesthesia in Pain Management of Farm Animals, a Changing Paradigm

Windsor

2022

Animals

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Field evidence indicates that livestock producers are motivated by access to products that readily deliver pain management during husbandry interventions and, more recently, viral epidermal infectious diseases, including FMD. There has been impressive adoption in Australia of a farmer-applied spray-on topical anaesthetic wound formulation (TAF; Tri-Solfen®, Medical Ethics, Australia), initially for managing pain of the breech modification ‘mulesing’ procedure that reduces susceptibility of sheep to flystrike. Over 120 million lambs have now received pain relief and cattle producers have commenced using the TAF for a range of husbandry procedures. This product has demonstrated efficacy for surgical castration and tail docking of lambs, surgical castration and dehorning of calves, surgical castration of piglets, debridement of lesions of the hoof for lame cattle and, importantly, treatment of clinical FMD lesions, including decubitus ulcerations occurring from prolonged recumbency. Multimodal use of an NSAID for improved pain management is advocated, particularly meloxicam, available by prescription from veterinarians for injection and as an oral formulation (Ilium Buccalgesic®, Troy Laboratories, Australia), with current work assessing the potential for prolonged delivery in molasses blocks. Increased use of TAF with NSAIDs significantly reduces pain and suffering in livestock, with enhanced healing of FMD lesions, reduced viral loads from Orf infections in lambs and diminished necessity of ‘antibiotic cover’, assisting antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) stewardship.

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“…However, timely or even pre-emptive care with sufficient antiinflammatory or pain medication for these diseases or procedures will reap the rewards [5,6]. As part of normal day-to-day operating procedures, a rigorous plan to minimize pain and inflammation must be enforced on the farm as a way of enhancing animal health and improving the economic performance of the farm [6][7][8][9]. Pain and inflammation are the physiological reactions of the body to damage to tissues or nerves, infection, and genetic changes [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%