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Effects of postpartum analgesia on the behaviour of Holstein cows experiencing both assisted and unassisted parturition
Gladden, N., Ellis, K., Martin, J...
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Objectives
Assisted parturition in cattle is common and has the potential to be both painful and stressful. Although pain and stress are adverse welfare states, the welfare effects of assisted parturition have rarely been studied. Although non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) analgesia is commonly provided following veterinary-assisted parturition, conflicting results from different studies mean that the potential welfare benefits of postpartum NSAID analgesia are unclear. Few studies compare cows experiencing both assisted and unassisted parturition, as well as those administered either an analgesic drug or a placebo in a 2x2 factorial design considered ‘gold standard’ for assessing the welfare effects of a chosen treatment. The objective of this study was to use such a robust design to investigate the effects of postpartum NSAID analgesia in both farmer-assisted and unassisted parturition, as well as the effect of farmer-assisted parturition on dairy cattle welfare in the first 48h postpartum.
Materials and methods
The study was performed on a 700-cow commercial UK dairy farm; the cows are housed all year round and calve in a year-round calving pattern. Thirty-seven cows experiencing farmer-assisted parturition and 35 cows experiencing unassisted parturition were recruited and randomly assigned to either a NSAID treatment group (35 cows) or a placebo group (37 cows). Cows in the treatment group were administered ketoprofen and cows in the placebo group received a saline placebo; both treatments were administered within 3h of parturition. Cow behaviour was monitored for 48h postpartum using continuous video recording. Behavioural analysis of video footage was performed using instantaneous focal sampling with sample intervals of every 20min every other hour. Observations were assigned to behaviours according to an ethogram containing 13 behavioural categories, and were used to construct a 48h time budget for each cow.
Results
The most common specific behaviour exhibited by cows across the whole 48h time period was standing (49% of time budget). Collectively, active behaviours occupied a slightly greater proportion of the time budget than lying behaviours (53.8% compared to 46.3%) and cows were most active in the first 12h postpartum (p <0.001). The most common lying posture was sternal recumbency with the head elevated (26.2%). Lying postures were affected by both treatment status and assistance status. Cows experiencing assisted parturition (irrespective of treatment status) spent more time in lateral recumbency overall than cows experiencing unassisted parturition (p = 0.008) and more time in lateral recumbency with the head rested (p = 0.049). Cows treated with ketoprofen (irrespective of assistance status) spent less time in lateral recumbency than cows treated with the placebo, both overall (p = 0.031) and with the head rested (p = 0.008). Additionally, when lying in sternal recumbency, cows treated with ketoprofen spent more time with the head rested than cows treated with a saline placebo (p = 0.009). Cows in the treatment group that had experienced assisted parturition showed a tendency to spend more time engaged in feeding directed behaviours than cows in the other three interaction groups (p = 0.079).
A diagnosis of postpartum disease was associated with an increased proportion of the time budget spent lying in sternal recumbency with the head elevated and more time lying in sternal recumbency overall (p = 0.023 and p = 0.013 respectively). Time spent engaged in lateral recumbency with the head rested was 2.5 times higher in primiparous animals than multiparous animals (p = 0.002) and as a result, the proportion of the time budget engaged in lateral recumbency overall was also higher in primiparous animals (p = 0.004).
Conclusions
Cows that were administered ketoprofen analgesia immediately postpartum exhibited lying postures suggestive of reduced pain and improved comfort, regardless of assistance status. There was no interaction between time and treatment status, suggesting that the beneficial effect of ketoprofen lasted for up to 48h postpartum. A single dose of ketoprofen in the immediate postpartum period therefore has the potential to improve the welfare of all cows after parturition irrespective of assistance status. As parturition is a necessary event for cattle that usually occurs annually, this finding has the potential to contribute to the improvement of welfare of large numbers of cattle and provides a further method for farmers and veterinary surgeons to optimise the management of cows in the immediate postpartum period.
Keywords: Welfare, Behaviour, Parturition, Analgesia.
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