Practices for the disbudding and dehorning of dairy calves by veterinarians and dairy producers in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Disbudding and dehorning dairy calves is very common, despite the introduction of polled genetics to most dairy breeds. Appropriate pain-control practices for these procedures affect both calf welfare and public perception of the dairy industry. Previously published work has shown that North American dairy producers have not widely adopted use of these medications for disbudding or dehorning. However, since the last published work examining these practices in Canada, changes regarding awareness, availability, and future requirements for pain control have occurred in the industry. With this in mind, online and telephone surveys of both veterinarians (n=238) and dairy producers (n=603) in Ontario, Canada, were conducted in the fall of 2014 with a goal of describing current disbudding and dehorning practices and examining factors associated with the adoption of pain control use. Approximately three-quarters of dairy producers reported performing disbudding or dehorning themselves, whereas the remainder used a veterinarian or technician. Almost all (97%) of the veterinarians surveyed reported using local anesthetic, 62% used sedation, and 48% used a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Producer use of local anesthetic was 62%, 38% used sedation and 24% used a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Seventy-eight percent of veterinarian disbudding or dehorning was done before 8wk of age, whereas 64% of dairy producers performed this procedure before 8wk of age. Seventy-two percent of veterinarians and 63% of producers reported changing their disbudding or dehorning practices over the past 10 yr; of producers that changed their practices, 73% cited their herd veterinarian as influential. The use of pain control described in these surveys is higher than previously reported in Ontario. Identification of factors associated with best practices, or the lack of adoption of these practices, may help veterinarians target appropriate educational opportunities for their dairy clients.

Clinical communication patterns of veterinary practitioners during dairy herd health and production management farm visits

“…Demographic characteristics of the study population were comparable with the results in other studies regarding veterinarian and dairy farmer age (Winder et al, 2016), duration of veterinarian experience in prac- tice (Luby et al, 2013), veterinarian sex distribution in food animal practice (Jelinski and Barth, 2015), average milk production per cow (Ritter et al, 2015), and average number of lactating cows per farm (Canadian Dairy Information Centre, 2017). Although these comparisons supported the generalizability of the study, the size of the dairy farms participating in the study ranged from 34 to 500 lactating cows, and communication might be different on farms with substantially more cattle and where the labor is divided among more employees that are not necessarily involved in the decision-making process.…”

Canadian National Dairy Study: Heifer calf management

“…Previous reported use of NSAIDs among producers has been very low (Hoe and Ruegg, 2006;Fulwider et al, 2008;Vasseur et al, 2010), and is also low among veterinarians performing this practice (Huxley and Whay, 2006;Hewson et al, 2007;Misch et al, 2007;Fajt et al, 2011). However, recent evidence indicates this is now increasing in use among both veterinarians and dairy producers, and the use of sedation, local anesthetic, and NSAID in this survey was very similar to that reported in 2014 in Ontario (Winder et al, 2016). The Ontariobased survey was primarily focused on disbudding and dehorning practices; the title of the survey was clear in this aspect, and there may have been a differential nonresponse bias from those producers not using pain control.…”

“…Interestingly, age and education level were not significant in any of the 3 medication use models, and were not associated with social media or high-speed internet use. Somewhat similarly, use of sedation in the Ontario-based survey was associated with use of Twitter for professional purposes (Winder et al, 2016). This supports the idea that connection to information through online access may be a more useful predictor of awareness of recommended management procedures and willingness to improve on farm practices compared with traditional demographic descriptors such as age and education.…”

“…Animal welfare standards have also changed globally (von Keyserlingk and Weary, 2017), with use of pain control for dehorning as part of the mandatory proAction Animal Care program for dairy farmers in Canada (Dairy Farmers of Canada, 2015). Although some evidence suggests that the use of pain control has increased in the province of Ontario in recent years (Winder et al, 2016), no national data have been collected regarding this practice.…”

Comparison of online, hands-on, and a combined approach for teaching cautery disbudding technique to dairy producers

“…Almost all dairy operations in North America perform disbudding or dehorning (Adams et al, 2015) to ensure the safety of caregivers and other animals (Stock et al, 2013). On 75% of farms these procedures are performed by the producer or farm staff, with the remainder using a veterinarian or veterinary technician (Winder et al, 2016). Cautery disbudding is used by 70 to 88% of dairy producers in North America (Vasseur et al, 2010;Adams et al, 2015;Winder et al, 2016).…”