Data from: Behaviors 3 and 6 weeks after caustic paste disbudding in dairy calves

Disbudding with caustic paste, which chemically destroys horn-producing
tissue, is common on U.S. dairy farms. Research on behavioral changes in
calves has predominantly focused on the 48 h after disbudding with a hot
iron or caustic paste. In the weeks following the procedure, behavioral
changes such as ear flicks, head shakes and other head and body movements
have been evaluated primarily for hot-iron disbudding. Our objective was
to quantify behaviors often associated with pain in calves for up to 6 wk
after caustic paste disbudding compared with a sham procedure. Jersey and
Holstein female calves were disbudded using caustic paste at 3 d of age
with a local anesthetic (lidocaine) and an NSAID (meloxicam, n = 18),
while control calves received a sham procedure (n = 15). To manipulate the
calves’ experience, we measured behavior for both paste-disbudded and
intact control calves under two conditions, either with the provision of
lidocaine as a local anesthetic (Anesthesia observations) at 4 d, 3 and 6
wk of age, or without any pain relief (Baseline observations) at 3 and 6
wk. We predicted that caustic paste disbudded calves would exhibit more
behavioral indicators of pain, through the presence of more spontaneous
movements and less activity, than intact control calves during Baseline
observations. We also predicted the behavioral differences would be
reduced during Anesthesia observations when caustic paste-disbudded calves
would experience pain relief. Ten behaviors were continuously measured
from video recordings for 75 min/d as either total frequency (ear flicks,
head shakes, head rubs, head scratches, tail flicks, and transitions
between lying and standing) or duration (grooming, ruminating, lying with
the head still, and non-nutritive oral manipulation). Unexpectedly, we
found that the sensation loss from lidocaine did not persist for the
entire 75-min period and therefore we chose to analyze only the Baseline
observations. We found no evidence of significant differences between
caustic paste-disbudded or intact control calves for any of the behaviors
observed 3 and 6 wk after the procedure. Our results raise further
methodological questions about how to best assess long-term pain in
cattle.  Future models could consider exploring 24-h observations
or other pharmacological manipulations, such as NSAIDs or ring blocks.