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 […]
Topical anesthesia mitigates the pain of castration in beef calves
Castration involves the removal of the testes, and is performed to improve product quality and management of male calves. The procedure has been proven to cause significant pain and stress, and despite several attempts to reduce the impact of castration on animal welfare, there has yet to be a practical […]
Behavior of piglets after castration with and without CO2-anesthesia
Surgical castration of male piglets without anesthesia is a routine management practice conducted on commercial pig farms. For animal welfare reasons it would be beneficial to develop methods of practical pain relief. The objective of this study from the Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen, Geel, Belgium, was to evaluate the effect of […]