Beef Cattle Well Being - New York Beef Producer`s Association

Beef Cattle Well Being:
How to process calves
with less pain and setback
Drs. Mary Smith & Matthias Wieland
Cornell Ambulatory & Production
Medicine
How you can best avoid
stress on your calves, your
pocketbook, and your
customers
What do you have to do to calves
that causes pain or stress?
Move
Weigh
Vaccinate
Wean
Dehorn
Castrate
Humane treatment
group by size
safe handling facilities,
non slip
avoid electric prods
quiet equipment and
workers
move with patience
Dehorning
done for human and animal safety
younger is always better than older
Dehorn with the bull! – Angus, Hereford
Dehorn with the bull – Gelbvieh, Charolais
Dehorning
How many of you raise only polled cattle?
Dehorning – NAHMS studies
2007-08 small producer study
9 8% off calves
9.8%
l
born
b
in
i East
E t had
h d horns
h
vs 22.8% of calves in South Central
region
49% of calves born with horns over all
regions were or would be dehorned.
if dehorned, average age was 119 d =
4 months
Dehorning – NAHMS studies
Dehorning
h
tools
l for
f calves
l
Lye paste
Portasol (butane) and Express
(butane/propane mix, larger tip)
Electric dehorner
Roberts gouge
Barnes – small and large
Portasol dehorner - butane
Commonly, also scoop out the bud
Electric dehorners
Roberts dehorner – spreads
p
BLV
Barnes dehorners – two sizes
Barnes dehorner
Need to remove haired skin all the way around
Must get haired skin all around
Must control bleeding
Keystone dehorner
Dehorning technique - NAHMS
Percent of all operations (operations in East):
Caustic paste – 5.7% (3.4%)
Electric dehorner,, debudder – 24.5% ((12%))
Roberts gouge or spoon – 30.6% (25.4%)
Barnes saw,
Barnes,
saw or keystone – 39.2%
39 2% (59.2%)
(59 2%)
What does BQA say?
 Castration and dehorning are done for the protection
of the animal, other cattle in the herd and people
who handle the cattle.
cattle
 When horns are present, it is strongly recommended
that calves be dehorned prior to 120 days of age.
Dehorning should be done before the diameter of the
horn base grows to one inch in diameter or more.
 It is strongly recommended that a local anesthetic
(cornual nerve block) be used when the horn base is
one inch or more in diameter.
What do European laws say?
28 member
b states
What
h do
d European laws
l
say?
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 98/58/EC
concerning
i the
h protection
i off animals
i l
kept for farming purposes:
“Member States shall make provision to ensure that the
owners or keepers take all reasonable steps to ensure
the welfare of animals under their care and to ensure
that those animals are not caused any unnecessary
pain,
i suffering
ff i or injury.”
i j
”
What
h do
d European laws
l
say?
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE:
“requires member states to achieve a
particular result without dictating the
means of achieving that result.”
Spanish government passed a law which protects
bullfights as an „intangible cultural heritage“
French government declared „foie gras“ as a
national and gastronomic heritage
What
h do
d European laws
l
say?
Recommendation Concerning Cattle
adopted
d
d
Dehorning: over 4 weeks of age under
l
local
l or generall anesthesia
h i by
b a veterinary
i
surgeon or any other person qualified
What do European laws say?
Austria
 ≤ 2 weeks
 Permissible if necessary to protect the animal or other animals
 Professionally competent person
 NO anesthesia required
 Heat cauterization with exact timing
g and automatic
deconnection device
 > 2 weeks
 Permissible if necessary to protect the animal or other animals
 Professionally competent person
 Anesthesia required
Caustic paste NOT allowed
2009
What do European laws say?
S it l d (not
Switzerland
( t member
b off EU)
Anesthesia required AT ANY AGE
 ≤ 3 weeks: „Professionally competent person“
 1. S
STEP: Theoretical
eo et ca cou
course
se
 2. STEP: Training with veterinarian
 3. STEP: Registration at the local state veterinary
office
> 3 weeks: Veterinarian
What do European laws say?
Germany
G
 ≤ 6 weeks
 Permissible if necessary to protect the animal or other animals
 Person with the necessary knowledge and skills
 NO anesthesia required
 > 6 weeks
 Permissible if veterinary indication exists
 Veterinarian
 Anesthesia required
Caustic paste NOT allowed
2009
Wh does
What
d
Germany
G
cattle
l industry
i d
look
l k like?
lik ?
Beef farms: 80,000
Beef Cattle: 3.5 Million
Dairy farms: 85,000
Dairy cows: 4 Million
80 % dehorned cattle in
dairy farms
Beef cattle: 700,000
68 % dehorned cattle in
housed beef farms
30 % dehorned cattle in
suckler
kl herds
h d
(30 % polled cattle)
What
h do
d US laws
l
say?
What do consumers say?
Dehorning – NAHMS studies
2011 Feedlot study – 11.7% of calves
placed
l
d in
i feedlots
f dl
arrived
i d with
i h horns
h
77% of horned cattle were tipped or
dehorned
23% of horned cattle left with intact
horns – beef quality issue from bruising
g handling
g & transport
p
of animals during
Pain mitigation
Younger is better
Local anesthetic
Sedation
Systemic pain relief
Flunixin (Banamine)
Meloxicam
Cornual nerve location
behind the eye
underneath the temporal line
line, on the
bone
at the outer edge – “inject
inject where the
icicle attaches to the roof”
bl k will
block
ill last
l t more than
th an hour
h
Cornual nerve block,, 2-4 cc lidocaine
Cornual nerve block, easy to do
See video of
Cornual nerve block
Meloxicam for pain relief
Extralabel – must go through your vet
3 x 15 mg pills per 100 pounds of calf
OK to give at time of dehorning
3 days
d
off pain
i relief
li f
costs less than 25 cents per calf
(flunixin only lasts a few hours
and should be given IV)
(if use nerve block)
Dehorning young calves with
pain
i relief
li f is
i easy!!
See video
S
id off
Butane dehorner
small calf
Dehorning older calves with
pain relief is almost as easy!
See video of
Electric dehorner
l
large
calf
lf
Castration
Band
Count to 2!
May get Tetanus if not protected
Crush with Burdizzo
Cut and clamp or pull
Cleanest on pasture
May bleed or get infected
Wh t do
What
d you do?
d ?
Castration – Elastrator bands
Pain mitigation
Younger is better
Local injected lidocaine?
Local spray or gel?
Sedation?
Systemic pain relief?
Flunixin (Banamine) IV
Meloxicam – no effect on
ADG
Castration – NAHMS studies
2007-08 small producer study
77% off allll bull
b ll calves
l
were castrated
t t d
before sale (only 58% in East)
average age when castrated 77 days
Castration technique - NAHMS
Percent of all operations:
Remove with blade – 49%
Clamp/Burdizzo
p/
– 3.5%
Band or tubing <= 3 months - 39.5%
Band or tubing > 3 months – 8%
Castration – NAHMS studies
Castration – NAHMS studies
2011 Feedlot study – Bulls placed on feed
43% of feedlots banded and vaccinated
against tetanus (0.1% no vaccine)
6% surgically castrated and vaccinated
g
tetanus
against
44% surgically castrated, no vaccine
6% of feedlots did not castrate the bulls
What does BQA say?
 Castration and dehorning are done for the protection
of the animal, other cattle in the herd and people
who handle the cattle.
cattle Castration prior to 120 days of
age or when calves weigh less than 500 pounds is
strongly recommended.
 Weaning can be less stressful if castrated (and
dehorned) early in life, before weaning
 If only 58% of calves in East are castrated before
sale, there is room for improvement!
What
h do
d European laws
l
say?
Austria
Anesthesia PLUS pain treatment after castration
required AT ANY AGE
V
Veterinarian
i i
Band NOT allowed
What do European laws say?
S it l d (not
Switzerland
( t member
b off EU)
Anesthesia required AT ANY AGE
 ≤ 2 weeks: „Professionally competent person“
 1. STEP: Theoretical course
 2. S
STEP: Training
a
g with
t veterinarian
ete a a
 3. STEP: Registration at the local state veterinary
office
> 2 weeks: Veterinarian
What
h do
d European laws
l
say?
Germany
 ≤ 4 weeks
 Person with the necessary knowledge and skills
 NO anesthesia required
 > 4 weeks
 Veterinarian
 Anesthesia required
Band NOT allowed
Wh does
What
d
Germany
G
cattle
l industry
i d
look
l k like?
lik ?
Few cattle are castrated in Germany
0.6% of slaughtered cattle (1991)
What do US laws say?
Nothing
What do producers say?
Castration p
prevents riding,
g, pregnancies
p g
Safer to work with animal
p for poorer
p
gain
g
with implant
p
Can make up
Wh t do
What
d consumers say??
If painful, it must be bad
Avoid pain or treat pain
Does the meat taste different?
Marbling – juiciness,
juiciness flavor,
flavor tenderness
What is important
p
to your
y
consumer
should be important to you!
Effects
ff
off Castration - research
h
Behavior (turning head, hunched,
statue standing,
di
not eating)
i )
Cortisol increases (marker for stress)
Electroencephalogram – indicates pain
What does research say?
What does research say?
(Ting et al., 2003)
= Burdizzo
= untreated
control group
= Burdizzo plus
ketoprofen
= Burdizzo plus
lidocaine locally
= Burdizzo plus
lidocaine and
xylazine epidurally
hours
What does research say?
What does research say?
(Becker et al. 2012)
=
=
=
=
=
control group (sham castration)
rubber ring
rubber
ubb ring
g plus
p us Burdizzo
ud o
3 rubber rings
rubber ring cut after 9 days
Castration - research
h
Affects performance of calves
Bretschneider, G. 2005. Effects of age
and method of castration on
performance and stress response of
beef male cattle. Liv. Prod. Sci. 97, 89100 (review article)
Castration - research
h
Castration associated weight loss
relative
l i to intact
i
bulls
b ll evaluated
l
d in
i first
fi
30 days - progressively more WL as
age off castration
t ti iincreased
d
Castration after puberty (10 mo) causes
so much WL that the cattle finish with
slaughter weight equal or lower than
that of cattle castrated pre-puberty
Process calmly and when the
calf is YOUNG!