Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves
Disbudding is a husbandry practice that causes pain and discomfort to calves. As a prominent welfare concern, it is now standard practice for calves to be given analgesic treatment such as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) injection. Meloxicam is a commonly used NSAID as it provides pain...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/11/1641 |
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| author | Tiarna Scerri Sabrina Lomax Peter Thomson Benjamin Kimble Peter White Merran Govendir Cameron Clark Dominique Van der Saag |
| author_facet | Tiarna Scerri Sabrina Lomax Peter Thomson Benjamin Kimble Peter White Merran Govendir Cameron Clark Dominique Van der Saag |
| author_sort | Tiarna Scerri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Disbudding is a husbandry practice that causes pain and discomfort to calves. As a prominent welfare concern, it is now standard practice for calves to be given analgesic treatment such as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) injection. Meloxicam is a commonly used NSAID as it provides pain relief for up to 44 h following disbudding. However, since symptoms can persist for up to two weeks, it was hypothesised that more prolonged analgesic treatment would promote better welfare outcomes than the conventional injection. This study tested a novel treatment whereby disbudded calves were fed grain-based pellets medicated with meloxicam over a 7-day period. Lower levels of horn site inflammation were observed for the pellet treatment across the 7-day feeding period in comparison to the conventional injection. The pellet treatment calves also exhibited less pain-specific and more positive social-specific behaviours during and beyond the feeding period. Together, these results suggest that lower levels of inflammation enacted by prolonged meloxicam administration have an active role in reducing pain and maintaining the affectivity of disbudded calves. With the goal of establishing sustained disbudding treatment as a new industry standard, future research will focus on larger-scale results reproducibility and maximising treatment practicality. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-39d2a92a79604fe1b4c076d63a0c7f63 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj-art-39d2a92a79604fe1b4c076d63a0c7f632025-08-20T03:10:50ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152025-06-011511164110.3390/ani15111641Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy CalvesTiarna Scerri0Sabrina Lomax1Peter Thomson2Benjamin Kimble3Peter White4Merran Govendir5Cameron Clark6Dominique Van der Saag7School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaGulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, AustraliaSydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaDisbudding is a husbandry practice that causes pain and discomfort to calves. As a prominent welfare concern, it is now standard practice for calves to be given analgesic treatment such as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) injection. Meloxicam is a commonly used NSAID as it provides pain relief for up to 44 h following disbudding. However, since symptoms can persist for up to two weeks, it was hypothesised that more prolonged analgesic treatment would promote better welfare outcomes than the conventional injection. This study tested a novel treatment whereby disbudded calves were fed grain-based pellets medicated with meloxicam over a 7-day period. Lower levels of horn site inflammation were observed for the pellet treatment across the 7-day feeding period in comparison to the conventional injection. The pellet treatment calves also exhibited less pain-specific and more positive social-specific behaviours during and beyond the feeding period. Together, these results suggest that lower levels of inflammation enacted by prolonged meloxicam administration have an active role in reducing pain and maintaining the affectivity of disbudded calves. With the goal of establishing sustained disbudding treatment as a new industry standard, future research will focus on larger-scale results reproducibility and maximising treatment practicality.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/11/1641behaviourcalfdisbuddingmedicated feedmeloxicampain |
| spellingShingle | Tiarna Scerri Sabrina Lomax Peter Thomson Benjamin Kimble Peter White Merran Govendir Cameron Clark Dominique Van der Saag Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves Animals behaviour calf disbudding medicated feed meloxicam pain |
| title | Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves |
| title_full | Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves |
| title_fullStr | Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves |
| title_full_unstemmed | Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves |
| title_short | Medicated Meloxicam Pellets Reduce Some Indicators of Pain in Disbudded Dairy Calves |
| title_sort | medicated meloxicam pellets reduce some indicators of pain in disbudded dairy calves |
| topic | behaviour calf disbudding medicated feed meloxicam pain |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/11/1641 |
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