Data from: Behavioral changes in calves 11 days after cautery disbudding: effect of local anesthesia

Hot-iron disbudding results in painful burn wounds that take weeks to
heal. Spontaneous behaviors indicative of pain are apparent in the
immediate hours after disbudding, but whether they occur later in the
healing process is unknown. To evaluate whether ongoing pain was present
around the time the necrotic tissue loosens from the scalp, we tested the
effect of administration of local anesthetic 11 d after the procedure.
Disbudded female Holstein and Jersey calves (n=24) were randomly assigned
to receive an injection of local anesthetic (lidocaine) or saline at the
cornual nerve on both sides of the head. We recorded the frequency of 8
behaviors over a 75-min period following the injections: head shakes, head
rubs, head scratches, ear flicks, tail flicks, bucks/jumps/kicks,
grooming, and transitions between standing and lying. Calves treated with
lidocaine shook their head less and tended to flick their ears less than
calves administered saline, consistent with the effects of pain relief
previously reported in the immediate hours after disbudding. These calves
also rubbed their head against the sides of the pen more often, suggesting
lidocaine suppressed wound protective behavior. Head shaking and head
scratching became more common in the last 25 min compared to the first 50
min in calves treated with lidocaine, consistent with the return of
sensation to the disbudding wounds. No treatment differences in the other
behaviors were observed. These results suggest that calves experience
ongoing pain 11 d after hot-iron disbudding, adding to a growing body of
evidence that pain persists for weeks after the procedure.