Reducing pain after dehorning in dairy calves

By Faulkner, P.M. - Weary, D.M.

We investigated behavioral responses after dehorning and a sham procedure in 20 Holstein calves aged 4 to 8 wk. Calves either received a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (ketoprofen) before dehorning as well as 2 and 7 h after the procedure or were assigned to a control group. All calves received a sedative (xylazine) and local anaesthetic (lidocaine) before dehorning, and responses were scored over 24 h after the procedure. After hot-iron dehorning, calves treated with ketoprofen also demonstrated little head shaking or ear flicking, but control animals demonstrated higher frequencies of these behaviors; both responses peaked 6 h after dehorning. Differences between the treatment groups remained statistically significant until 12 h (head shaking) and 24 h (ear flicking) after dehorning. A low frequency of head rubbing was observed in both treatment groups, but control calves were more frequently observed engaged in this behavior. There was no statistically significant effect of treatment on any of the other behavioral measures. Calves treated with ketoprofen also tended to gain more weight (1.2 +/- 0.4 kg) during the 24 h after dehorning than did control calves (0.2 +/- 0.4 kg). There was no effect of treatment on any of the response variables when calves were sham dehorned. These results indicate that ketoprofen mitigates pain after hot-iron dehorning in young dairy calves.