Page 236 - The Welfare of Cattle

WeLfare Issues In feedLot CattLe 213

include castration, dehorning, branding, ear tagging, parasite control, and vaccination. It should
be noted that providing pain mitigation to calves that are castrated, dehorned, or branded does not
compensate for improper or poor technique or lack of experience in conducting these procedures.
Processing occurs at specific points in time after birth with the most common times being less
than 1 week of age and between 1 and 3 months of age, but this can vary widely by producer and
geographic location. A study by Moggy et al. (2017a) indicated that 53%, 51%, and 52% of Canadian
calves are castrated, dehorned, and branded at <1 week of age, respectively. The welfare impact of
each of the routine management procedures indicated will be briefly discussed below.

Castration

The Canadian Beef Codes of practice (NFACC, 2013), US National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
(NCBA) beef quality assurance (BQA) program (NCBA, 2014), American (AVMA, 2014a), and the
Canadian (CVMA, 2014) Veterinary Medical Associations recommend that bull calves be castrated
as soon as practically possible after birth. This is because the trauma, and complications includ-
ing increased risk of infection, blood loss, and death in some cases, is believed to increase as the
testicles develop (Schwartzkopf-Genswein et al., 2012a). Recent studies on castration in beef cattle
provide evidence confirming that the older the calf, the greater the number of acute (Meléndez et al.,
2017a) and chronic (Marti et al., 2017a) pain/stress indicators of pain are observed. Regardless of
age or method (surgical and nonsurgical), there is significant evidence that castration causes pain
and stress in beef cattle (Coetzee, 2011; Meléndez et al., 2017a). It is because of this that the use
of pain control drugs is now an industry requirement in Canada (not regulation in most provinces)
for calves castrated at 6 months of age and older but is currently not required for calves younger
than that. The NCBA guidelines for castration do not indicate that analgesia or anesthesia have to
be used; however, they encourage producers to seek veterinary guidance on this, particularly in
older animals (NCBA, 2014). This is in contrast to the World Organization for animal Health (OIE)
guidelines which indicate that castration should be conducted with pain control regardless of animal
age (OIE, 2010). There is also very little information on postoperative pain management which is
necessary given that indicators of pain can be measured for several days (Meléndez et al., 2017a)
and even weeks (Marti et al., 2017a) post-procedure. Only one published study has assessed healing
aids following surgical castration. The study concluded that the time taken to heal lesions post-
castration was not reduced in calves administered commercially available wound-healing agents
compared to calves receiving no wound-healing agents (Marti et al., 2017b).
As it is unlikely that the North American feedlot industry will change to finishing bulls rather
than steers (in part due to current infrastructure which can house a large number (up to 350) of
cattle in a single pen), solutions for reducing or eliminating the stress of castration are still very
relevant. An alternative method of castration without physically removing the testicles includes the
use of an immuno-castration vaccine. The vaccine induces antibodies against GnRF (gonadotro-
phin releasing factor) which has been shown to successfully decrease testosterone concentrations,
testicular development, and physical activity but not reduce weight gain compared to intact bulls
(Janett et al., 2012). The vaccine is labeled for use in postpubertal bulls and to be effective must be
administered approximately 30 days prior to entering the feedlot and again at about 7 months of
age once bull calves have entered a feedlot (Janett et al., 2012). Another study demonstrated that
an anti-GnRF vaccine was a viable animal welfare-friendly alternative to traditional band castra-
tion in beef cattle under North American feedlot practices (Marti et al., 2015). Although such a
vaccine is registered for use in other countries, there are none currently registered for use in North
America. Until alternative methods of castration are available, reliance on pain mitigation strategies
for castration using anesthetics and analgesics registered for use in cattle must continue so a stan-
dardized method of pain management for surgical and nonsurgical castration can be determined
(Schwartzkopf-Genswein et al., 2012a).