Prevalence and lameness-associated risk factors in Alberta feedlot cattle

Lameness in cattle is a health and welfare concern; however, limited information is available on risk factors and the relationship between lameness and common diseases like bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: 1) identify prevalence of lameness in feedlot cattle and related risk factors of cattle diagnosed as lame; and 2) determine associations between BRD occurrence and lameness. Feedlot cattle health records were available from 28 feedlots for 10 yr. The data set consisted of 663,838 cattle records, with 13.9% (92,156) diagnosed with a disease, including 32.3%, 46.0%, and 22.0% with lameness, BRD, and other diagnoses, respectively. Lameness was classified into four categories: foot rot (FR), joint infections (JI), lame with no visible swelling (LNVS), and injuries (INJ), with a prevalence of 74.5%, 16.1%, 6.1%, and 3.1%, respectively. Lameness was compared across cattle types (arrival date and weight) as well as age classification (calf vs. yearling), gender (steer vs. heifer), and season of placement in the feedlot (spring, summer, fall, and winter). Within the disease-diagnosed population, lameness represented 28.5% of treated fall-placed calves, 38.5% of winter-placed calves, and 40.8% of treated yearlings. Foot rot was the most common diagnosis with 74.5% of all lameness diagnoses, with winter- and fall-placed calves more likely to be diagnosed with FR compared to yearlings (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.10–1.30 and OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.38–1.55, respectively). Joint infections were the second most common diagnosis (16.1%). Compared to yearlings, fall-placed calves had a higher odds (OR: 3.64, 95% CI: 3.12–4.24) for JI. Injuries and LNVS were the least common but again fall-placed calves had higher odds of this diagnosis compared to yearlings (OR: 2.26, 95% CI: 1.70–2.99 and OR: 9.10, 95% CI: 6.26–13.2, respectively). Gender was significantly different for JI as steers were less likely affected compared to heifers (OR: 0.687, 95% CI: 0.545–0.867), and more likely affected by LNVS (OR: 2.46, 95% CI: 1.57–3.84). Of all lameness-associated deaths, JI accounted for almost 50%. Finally, cattle diagnosed with BRD were subsequently more likely to be diagnosed with INJ, JI, or LNVS (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). In conclusion, animal type and gender were associated with type of lameness diagnoses, allowing feedlots to allocate resources to groups at highest risk and focus on early intervention strategies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of preemptive flunixin meglumine and lidocaine on behavioral and physiological indicators of pain post-band and knife castration in 6-mo-old beef calves

One hundred and seventy-four Angus bull calves (248 ± 27.1 kg of body weight (BW), 6-mo-old) were used in a 71 d study to assess the efficacy of the combination of flunixin meglumine and lidocaine in mitigating pain associated with band and knife castration. The experiment consisted of a 3 × 2 factorial design that included castration method -sham (C), band (B) or knife (K); and medication – lidocaine (scrotal ring block 30 mL, 2% HCl lidocaine) and flunixin meglumine (single s.c. dose of 2.2 mg/kg BW) (M), or saline solution (NM). Animals were weighed on d 0 and weekly until d 71 (final BW) post-castration to obtain ADG. Physiological indicators included salivary cortisol collected on d 0 (30, 60, 120 and 240 min), d 2, 8, and weekly until d 48 post-castration; scrotal and eye temperature assessed on d 1, 2, 6, 8, and weekly until d 36 post-castration; fecal samples for E. coli collected on d 0, 2, 6, 8, and 22 post-castration. Behavioral measures included stride length on d 0, 8, and weekly until d 36, visual analog scale (VAS) evaluated during castration, and feeding behavior collected daily from d 0 to d 71 post-castration. Final BW and ADG were greater (P  0.10) were observed for stride length. The VAS scores were greater (P = 0.01) in K than C and B calves, while NM had greater scores (P < 0.01) than M calves. Dry matter intake and meal size were greater (P = 0.05) in M than NM calves. Meal duration was greater (P = 0.01) in B and C than K calves on d 0, while K calves had greater (P < 0.01) meal duration than C calves 1 and 2-wk post-castration. Overall, the combination of flunixin meglumine and lidocaine reduced physiological and behavioral indicators of pain, suggesting that their combined use was effective at mitigating pain associated with band and knife castration.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Effect of a single subcutaneous injection of meloxicam on chronic indicators of pain and inflammatory responses in 2-month-old knife and band-castrated beef calves housed on pasture

One hundred and thirty-one 2 mo. old pasture housed Angus cross bull calves were evaluated for 62 d over two years (Year 1: n = 69, 134.1 ± 20.37 kg BW; Year 2: n = 62, 118.1 ± 15.49 kg BW) to determine 1) the effects of a subcutaneous (s.c) injection of meloxicam on indicators of long term pain after castration and 2) the potential use of cow-calf proximity and home range as indicators of pain. Calves were randomly assigned to treatments using a 3 × 2 factorial design including castration - sham (CT; n = 47), band (BA; n = 46) or knife (KN; n = 38) castration and medication – s.c. meloxicam (M; n = 66) or s.c. lactated ringers solution (NM; n = 65). Measurements included performance, scrotal temperature, swelling (WS) and healing (WH) scores, and pain sensitivity, collected on d -1, 6, 13, 20, 34, 48, and 62 post-castration. Suckling, lying, standing and walking duration, and head-turning, lesion-licking, foot-stamping and tail-flick frequencies were collected immediately following and up to 2-d after castration. Cow-calf proximity and home range were obtained from d 0 to 2 and from d 14 to 16. With the exception of suckling, no medication (P > 0.05) effects were found. Greater (P < 0.05) pain sensitivity was observed in KN from d 6 to 34 and on d 62, and in BA from d 6 to 62 compared to CT calves. Knife calves showed an earlier (d 20) absence of inflammatory responses (WS; P < 0.05) than BA (d 34) and overall, KN calves had greater (P < 0.05) standing, walking, and head turning than BA and CT. Knife and BA had greater (P < 0.05) foot stamping than CT for the first 2 h post-castration, but KN exhibited greater (P < 0.05) frequencies between 9 and 11 h (d 0) compared to BA and CT, and had greater (P < 0.05) tail flicks from d 0 to 2 than CT. Banded calves were closer to their dams on d 15 while KN calves and their dams had a reduced home range on d 0 than CT cow-calf pairs. Although meloxicam did not reduce indicators of pain (with exception of suckling behavior), our results suggest that knife castration causes greater acute pain, while band castration resulted in greater chronic-pain. Cow-calf proximity and home range have some potential to be used as pain indicators post-castration.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pharmacokinetics of oral and subcutaneous meloxicam: Effect on indicators of pain and inflammation after knife castration in weaned beef calves

Oral meloxicam is labelled for reducing pain and inflammation associated with castration in cattle in Canada, however, subcutaneous meloxicam is only labelled for pain associated with dis-budding and abdominal surgery. The aim of this project was to determine the pharmacokinetic profile of oral (PO; 1.0 mg/kg BW) and subcutaneous meloxicam (SC; 0.5 mg/kg BW), and to assess the effect of meloxicam on physiological and behavioural indicators of pain associated with knife castration in 7–8 month old calves. Twenty-three Angus crossbred beef calves (328 ± 4.4 kg BW) were randomly assigned to two treatments: PO n = 12 or SC n = 11 administration of meloxicam immediately before knife castration. Physiological parameters included salivary and hair cortisol, substance P, haptoglobin, serum amyloid-A, weight, complete blood count, scrotal and rectal temperature. Behavioural parameters included standing and lying behaviour, pen behaviour and feeding behaviour. Data were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX (SAS), with repeated measures using mixed procedures including treatment as a fixed effect and animal and pen as a random effect. The pharmacokinetic profile of the drug including area under the curve, volume of distribution and clearance was greater (P < 0.05) in PO than SC calves. After surgery, substance P concentrations, white blood cell counts (WBC), weight and lying duration were greater (P < 0.05) in PO than SC calves, while scrotal circumference was lower (P < 0.05) in PO calves than SC calves. Although statistical differences were observed for pharmacokinetic, physiological and behavioural parameters differences were small and may lack biological relevance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of subcutaneous meloxicam on indicators of acute pain and distress after castration and branding in 2-mo-old beef calves

The aim of this study was to assess knife castration and knife castration + branding in 2-mo-old calves, and the effect of a single dose of s.c. meloxicam at mitigating pain indicators. Seventy-one Angus crossbred bull calves (128 ± 18.5 kg of BW) were used in a 3 × 2 factorial design where main factors included procedure: sham (control calves, CT; n = 23), knife (KN; n = 24) or knife + branding (BK; n = 24), and medication: single s.c. administration of lactated ringer solution (NM; n = 35) or a single dose of 0.5 mg/kg of s.c. meloxicam (M; n = 36). Physiological samples were collected at T0, 60, 90, 120, and 180 min and on days 1, 2, 3, and 7 after procedure, whereas behavioral observations were evaluated at 2 to 4 h and 1, 2, 3, and 7 days after procedure. A procedure × time effect (P 0.10) were observed for salivary cortisol, substance P, and scrotal temperature minutes after the procedure or for cortisol, substance P, serum amyloid-A, stride length, or behavioral observations days after the procedure. Overall, BK calves presented greater physiological and behavioral indicators of acute pain than KN calves, suggesting that the combination of knife castration + branding was more painful. Meloxicam administered s.c. was effective at reducing physiological and behavioral indicators of acute pain associated with knife castration and knife castration + branding.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Effect of meloxicam and lidocaine administered alone or in combination on indicators of pain and distress during and after knife castration in weaned beef calves

To assess the effect of meloxicam and lidocaine on indicators of pain associated with castration, forty-eight Angus crossbred beef calves (304 ± 40.5 kg of BW, 7–8 months of age) were used in a 28 day experiment. The experiment consisted of a 2 × 2 factorial design where main factors included provision of analgesia and local anaesthesia. Analgesia consisted of: no-meloxicam (N; n = 24) single s.c. administration of lactated ringer’s solution and meloxicam (M; n = 24) single dose of 0.5 mg/kg of s.c. meloxicam. Local anesthesia consisted of: no-lidocaine (R; n = 24) ring block administration of lactated ringer’s solution or lidociane (L; n = 24) ring block administration of lidocaine. To yield the following treatments: no meloxicam + no lidocaine (N-R; n = 12), no meloxicam + lidocaine (N-L; n = 12), meloxicam + no lidocaine (M-R; n = 12) and meloxicam + lidocaine (M-L; n = 12). Salivary cortisol concentrations were lower (lidocaine × time effect; P 0.05) were observed for average daily gain (ADG), weights or feeding behaviour. Overall, both lidocaine and meloxicam reduced physiological and behavioural indicators of pain. Although there was only one meloxicam × lidocaine interaction, lidocaine and meloxicam reduced physiological and behavioural parameters at different time points, which could be more effective at mitigating pain than either drug on its own.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Proteomics and the search for welfare and stress biomarkers in animal production in the one-health context

Stress and welfare are important factors in animal production in the context of growing production optimization and scrutiny by the general public. In a context in which animal and human health are intertwined aspects of the one-health concept it is of utmost importance to define the markers of stress and welfare. These are important tools for producers, retailers, regulatory agents and ultimately consumers to effectively monitor and assess the welfare state of production animals. Proteomics is the science that studies the proteins existing in a given tissue or fluid. In this review we address this topic by showing clear examples where proteomics has been used to study stress-induced changes at various levels. We adopt a multi-species (cattle, swine, small ruminants, poultry, fish and shellfish) approach under the effect of various stress inducers (handling, transport, management, nutritional, thermal and exposure to pollutants) clearly demonstrating how proteomics and systems biology are key elements to the study of stress and welfare in farm animals and powerful tools for animal welfare, health and productivity

Effects of transportation, transport medium and re-housing on Xenopus laevis (Daudin)

Understanding the immediate and longer-term effects of transportation and re-housing in a laboratory species is crucial in order to refine the transfer process, enable the optimal introduction of new animals to a novel environment and to provide a sufficient acclimatisation period before usage. Whilst consideration of animal welfare in most model vertebrate species has received attention, little quantitative evidence exists for the optimal care of the common laboratory amphibian Xenopus laevis. Techniques for the non-invasive welfare assessment of amphibians are also limited and here a non-invasive physiological assay was developed to investigate the impacts of transportation, transport medium and re-housing on X. laevis. First the impacts of transportation and transport medium (water, damp sponge or damp sphagnum moss) were investigated. Transportation caused an increase in waterborne corticosterone regardless of transport medium. Frogs transported in damp sphagnum moss also had a greater decrease in body mass in comparison to frogs not transported, suggesting that this is the least suitable transport medium for X. laevis. Next the prolonged impacts of transportation and re-housing were investigated. Frogs were transported between research facilities with different housing protocols. Samples were collected prior to and immediately following transportation, as well as 1 day, 7 days and 35 days after re-housing. Water-borne corticosterone increased following transportation and remained high for at least 7 days, decreasing to baseline levels by 35 days. Body mass decreased following transportation and remained lower than baseline levels across the entire 35 day observation period. These findings suggest the process of transportation and re-housing is stressful in this species. Together these findings have important relevance for both improving animal welfare and ensuring optimal and efficient scientific research