We were all happy to see the back of that cruel practice, and more recently, our focus has shifted to animal welfare as a raft of research has reinforced that cows and calves feel pain like we do.
Today, we know that stress hormone levels rise quickly when calves are disbudded without pain relief. When pain relief is administered these hormones are more stable, indicating the calf is much more comfortable.
As a consulting officer, I’ve seen a huge shift to use pain relief for disbudding by farmers in my region. It’s now widespread and seen as a core part of providing good animal care. It’s the right thing to do – and since October 2019, it’s been a legal requirement.
Legally, local anaesthetic must be used for disbudding. This numbs the horn bud for about two hours – like a dentist numbs your tooth.
Using an anti-inflammatory or a topical anaesthetic is also recommended to provide longer term pain relief.
Some farmers use vets to sedate calves for disbudding. This removes much of the handling stress, and recent evidence indicates it provides some extra pain relief for up to 24 hours.
While disbudding is often done by contractors and vet practices, some farmers have worked with their vets to receive training to do it themselves.
Whether you disbud the animals yourself, or contract this out, farmers tell me that using pain relief makes it much easier as calves are calmer to handle. They may also be less stressed with farm staff in future.
If you have new staff, talking to them about why pain relief is important for disbudding and other conditions, such as lameness and mastitis, is a great way to get them thinking about animal care.
Lastly, if you’re planning to disbud calves it’s worthwhile getting onto this soon. Calves can go through this procedure from two to six weeks old.
Younger calves tend to be easier to handle. In older calves the procedure is more painful, as removing a hornbud attached to the skull leaves a bigger wound.
New Zealand farmers have a great reputation for animal care.
Providing pain relief during disbudding, lameness and difficult calvings is good for our cows and will also help reinforce our position as world-leading farmers.
Let’s keep up the good work.
