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Pain detection of cows with mastitis in the barn and at milking: a piece of cake?
Ginger, L., Ledoux, D., Bouchon, M...
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Objectives
Pain is one of the most detrimental factors affecting dairy cows’ welfare, and induces production losses. Mastitis is a good model for pain research in cattle, as it is a commonly occurring inflammatory painful disease. When induced by LPS infusion in the udder, mastitis has a limited duration, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can easily modulate it. To date, there is a lack of knowledge on the behavioral reaction of mastitic cows in cubicles and at milking. This study aimed at refining behavioral indicators of pain in dairy cows with mastitis, according to time and whether cows were observed in the cubicle barn or at milking.
Materials & Methods
Twenty-seven cows received an intra-mammary infusion of 25 µg E. coli LPS in one healthy quarter. Thirteen cows received 3 mg / kg ketoprofen IM (Ketofen® 10%) in addition to LPS (LPS+NSAID cows), and 14 cows received placebo (20mL NaCl 0.9% IM) instead of NSAID (LPS cows). Evolution of the local immune response was assessed using somatic cell counts (SCC) and cytokines/ chemokines quantification. Cows’ response to the challenge was monitored at regular intervals from 24 hours before to 48 hours post-infusion (hpi) through direct clinical observations (cardiac, ruminal and respiratory frequencies), through indicators of inflammation (in milk: cytokines/chemokines, haptoglobin, serum Amyloid A (SAA)) and stress (cortisol in blood and in milk), and through direct behavioral observations in the barn (i.e. postures, activity, social behavior, ear positions, etc.) and at milking (i.e. steps, lifts, kicks).
Results
In LPS cows, infusion induced significant changes of endocrinal, inflammatory and clinical parameters. Blood cortisol peaked at (mean [95% IC]) 69.18 [48.98-97.72] ng/ml at 3 hpi and remained above 65 ng/ml at 7 hpi. Milk cortisol peaked at 1.69 [1-3.01] ng/ml at 7hpi. SCC peaked at 1.8 x 107 cells/ml at 7 hpi and remained above 8 x 106 cells/ml until 48 hpi. IL-6, IL-1b and CXCL8 peaked at 7 hpi (respectively: 1.9 [1.7-3.0] x 103 nmg/ml; 1.6 [0.7-2.3] x 102 ng/ml; 2.7 [1.7- 7.0] x 103 ng/ml). SAA in milk significantly increased at 7 hpi, 24 hpi, 31 hpi and peaked at 7.4 [4.5-12.8] x 104 ng/ml) 48 hpi. More LPS cows stopped feeding/ruminating and pressed their tail between their legs at 3, 5, and 24 hpi than before (P < 0.05 in all cases). They also tend to be more numerous to be apathetic, dropping their head and dropping their ears at 5 hpi (P = 0.07 in all cases). At milking, significantly more LPS cows were lift their hooves at forestripping at 7 hpi than before (P=0.04).
LPS+NSAID and LPS cows showed similar pattern of responses for milk cortisol, SCC, respiratory rate, mAA, haptoglobin, IL-6, IL-1b and CXCL8 (P > 0.05). Compared to LPS cows, LPS+NSAID cows had significantly lower plasmatic cortisol levels at 3 hpi (61.66 [24.57-144.54] ng/ml). At 7 hpi, compared to LPS cows, LPS+NSAIDs cows’ rectal temperature decreased by 0.66 [(-0.85)-(-0.48)] °C, their rumen motility rate increased by 1.04 [0.34-1.75] contraction/min. At 31 hpi, compared to LPS cows, LPS+NSAID cows’ heart rate increased by 8.44 [1.00-15.91] beats/min, and their rumen motility rate increased by 0.89 [0.19-1.60] contraction/min. Compared to LPS cows, a larger proportion of LPS+NSAID cows were feeding or ruminating (P = 0.02), and few of them had ears down (P = 0.04) at 5 hpi; they were more numerous to lie down at 24 hpi (P = 0.02).
Conclusion
This study confirms the benefits to use behavioral indicators to early detect pain associated with mastitis in dairy cows, particularly during milking. These behavioral indicators (feeding/ruminating, tail position, reactivity at forestripping) could be useful for early detection of mastitis and for decision-making regarding the initiation of pain-relief treatment during mastitis in dairy cows. This will contribute to animal welfare improvement.
Keywords: Dairy cow, Pain, Behaviour, Welfare, Detection.
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