Sample records for mulesing
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Paull, D R; Lee, C; Colditz, I G; Atkinson, S J; Fisher, A D
2007-03-01
To determine the pain responses of lambs to mulesing, and the effectiveness of potential analgesic treatments. Merino lambs (n=64) were allocated at 5 weeks of age to eight treatment groups: 1) sham mules; 2) conventional mules; 3) topical anaesthetic, incorporating lignocaine, bupivicaine, adrenaline and cetrimide, applied immediately after mulesing; 4) flunixin + topical anaesthetic, with flunixin administered 2.5 mg/kg s.c. 90 min before mulesing; 5) carprofen + topical anaesthetic, with carprofen administered 4 mg/kg s.c. 90 min before mulesing; 6) carprofen, administered as above; 7) flunixin, administered as above; and 8) carprofen + flunixin, administered as above. Plasma cortisol was measured at 0, 0.5, 6, 12 and 24 h relative to mulesing. Animal behaviour, including posture, was recorded for 12 h after mulesing. The conventional mules lambs exhibited large increases in plasma cortisol, reduced lying and increased standing with a hunched back compared with sham mules animals. Topical anaesthetic reduced the cortisol peak to mulesing and hunched standing, and increased lying compared with the conventional mules treatment, but generally did not result in values equivalent to sham mules animals. Carprofen, flunixin, and carprofen + flunixin treatments did not reduce the cortisol response to mulesing but substantially ameliorated some changes in behavioural postures. Flunixin + topical anaesthetic reduced the cortisol peak following mulesing and substantially ameliorated most changes in behavioural postures. Carprofen + topical anaesthetic abolished the cortisol peak following mulesing and substantially ameliorated most changes in behavioural postures. All mulesed animals lost weight in the week after mulesing regardless of analgesic administration, but there were no significant differences in growth rate between any of the eight treatments over the 3 weeks after mulesing. Analgesics can moderate the pain response of lambs to mulesing. The welfare outcome for lambs of mulesing could be improved by use of a combination of local anaesthetic and long acting non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
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Colditz, I G; Paull, D R; Lee, C; Fisher, A D
2010-12-01
To assess the effects on physiology and behaviour of intradermal injection of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) as an alternative to mulesing. Three groups of Merino lambs were studied: Control (n = 10), SLS (n = 11) and Mulesed (n = 11). The SLS group received SLS (7% w/v) and benzyl alcohol (20 mg/mL) in phosphate buffer, and the Mulesed group received 6 mL topical local anaesthetic as a wound dressing. Haematology, cortisol, beta-endorphin and haptoglobin concentrations, rectal temperatures, body weight and behaviours were monitored for up to 42 days post treatments. SLS treatment induced mild swelling followed by thin scab formation. Fever (>40°C) was observed at 12 and 24 h, cortisol concentration was elevated on days 1 and 2, haptoglobin concentration was highly elevated on days 2-7, white blood cell count was elevated on days 2 and 4 post treatment, but average daily gain was not affected. Fever at 12 h was significantly higher in the SLS than in the Mulesed group, whereas maximum temperature, temperature area under the curve (AUC), occurrence of fever, cortisol profile, cortisol AUC, white blood cell counts and haptoglobin concentrations until day 7 were comparable. The behaviours of normal standing, total standing and total lying were modified for 2 days by SLS treatment, but changes were less marked and of shorter duration than in the Mulesed group. On day 1, the SLS group spent <5% of time in total abnormal behaviours compared with 18% in the Mulesed group. The SLS group tended to spend more time in abnormal behaviours on day 1 than the Controls. The behaviour of the SLS group was similar to that of the unmulesed Controls and their physiological responses were intermediate between the Mulesed lambs receiving post-surgical analgesia and the Controls. © 2010 CSIRO. Australian Veterinary Journal © 2010 Australian Veterinary Association.
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Evaluation of dressings to aid healing of mulesing wounds on sheep.
Levot, G W; Hughes, P B; Kaldor, C J
1989-11-01
Five proprietary and one experimental dressing were compared with no treatment in their ability to aid healing of mulesing wounds in over 1900 young lambs. Healing was judged as the completeness of shrinkage of the mulesing cuts and the condition of scabs on the new skin surface. When assessed at 21 d it was found that treatment with Heriots Crown Wound Powder or Coopers Mulesing Powder offered a significant advantage over leaving the wounds untreated. Neither aqueous organophosphate washes, Defiance nor Defiance containing 0.08% chlorfenvinphos offered any healing advantage over controls. However, washing the wounds with an aqueous organophosphate solution aided healing more than the Defiance-based dressings. It was considered that the powders or the washes encouraged quick scab formation either by creating a dry covering (powders) or by washing away blood and allowing fast drying of the wound. The Defiance-type dressings slowed healing by keeping the wound moist for up to 10 d, but healing was not significantly different to the untreated group by 21 d.
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Colditz, I G; Lloyd, J B; Paull, D R; Lee, C; Giraudo, A; Pizzato, C; Fisher, A D
2009-01-01
To assess in weaned lambs the palliative effects of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, carprofen, following intradermal injection of cetrimide to induce non-surgical mulesing. We allocated 40 weaned lambs (20-22 weeks old) to four groups of 10 animals: (1) control, 2) conventional surgical mules, (3) intradermal treatment and (4) intradermal treatment + carprofen. Non-surgical mulesing was induced by intradermal injection of 4% (w/w) cetrimide + 3% (w/w) polyvinylpyrrolidone in water. In group 4, carprofen (4 mg/kg, SC) was administered 1 h before intradermal treatment. Five weaners, including an animal from each treatment, were run in each pen. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, cortisol, beta-endorphin and haptoglobin levels and rectal temperature were monitored at least daily for the first 7 days after treatment, then weekly until day 28. Body weight was measured weekly and behaviour was measured every 15 min for 12 h on the day of treatment, then on days 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 21 and 28 following treatment. The intradermal treatment resulted in high fever and elevated blood cortisol by 12 h. Rectal temperatures were significantly elevated until 5 days after treatment, cortisol was elevated until 3 days after treatment, haptoglobin for at least 7 days after treatment and the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio until 4 days after treatment. Average daily gain was depressed in the week following treatment. Abnormal behaviours (hunched standing, stiff walking, pawing, lateral lying and lying intention) were increased on the day of treatment and for 6 days post treatment. Carprofen reduced the time spent in abnormal behaviours by approximately two-thirds but did not ameliorate the physiological responses to the intradermal treatment. In weaner sheep, carprofen ameliorated the behavioural responses, but was unable to provide relief from the intense and sustained physiological responses to non-surgical mulesing by intradermal injection of cetrimide. Systemic side-effects may be unavoidable with formulations based on quaternary ammonium compounds that are designed to reduce the risk of fly strike in sheep by remodelling breech tissue through induction of tissue necrosis.
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Lee, E J; Rothwell, J T
2010-04-01
To characterise the changes caused to sheep skin by deep dermal and subcutaneous injections of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and describe the subsequent healing process. On 6 sheep 20 small areas of skin were each given deep dermal and subcutaneous injections of 0.2 mL of 7% SLS. Biopsies were collected at intervals up to 28 days after treatment and the histological changes in each of the treated skin samples were assessed and graded. There was no evidence of alterations in behaviour, weight gain or appetite of the sheep following the injections. Initial swelling of the treated site subsided by day 14, leaving a firm, slightly raised crust. At day 21, the treated area was depressed and covered by a scab, which sloughed completely by day 28. There was necrosis of the subcutis and deep dermis 2 min after treatment, followed by inflammation, fibroplasia, angiogenesis and tissue remodelling. Injection of SLS caused almost immediate local necrosis followed by eschar formation, sloughing and scarring of treated skin. Deep dermal and subcutaneous SLS is potentially useful as a chemical alternative to mulesing.
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Acoustic sensors on small robots for the urban environment
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Young, Stuart H.; Scanlon, Michael V.
2005-05-01
As the Army transforms to the Future Force, particular attention must be paid to operations in Complex and Urban Terrain. Because our adversaries realize that we don't have battlefield dominance in the urban environment, and because population growth and migration to urban environments is still on the increase, our adversaries will continue to draw us into operations in the urban environment. The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is developing technology to equip our soldiers for the urban operations of the future. Sophisticated small robotic platforms with diverse sensor suites will be an integral part of the Future Force, and must be able to collaborate not only amongst themselves but also with their manned partners. The use of acoustic sensors on robotic platforms, as shown in this paper, will greatly aid the soldiers of the future force in performing numerous types of missions including Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) by providing situational awareness, particularly to the dismounted soldier operating in the urban environment. The work conducted by the Army Research Laboratory, discussed in this paper will be transitioned to the FCS-Small Unattended Ground Vehicle (SUGV) program and FFW. The Army Research Laboratory is already working with these programs to ensure a feasible migration path. This paper focuses on four areas relating to acoustic sensing on robots for the urban environment as demonstrated at the DoD Horizontal Fusion Portfolio"s Warriors Edge (WE) Quantum Leap II (QL II) demonstration at Ft Benning, GA in August, 2004: small (man-portable) robot detection, mule-sized robot detection, sensor fusion across multiple platforms, and soldier/robot team interaction.
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Control of the sheep blowfly in Australia and New Zealand--are we there yet?
Sandeman, R M; Levot, G W; Heath, A C G; James, P J; Greeff, J C; Scott, M J; Batterham, P; Bowles, V M
2014-10-15
The last 50 years of research into infections in Australia and New Zealand caused by larvae of the sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, have significantly advanced our understanding of this blowfly and its primary host, the sheep. However, apart from some highly effective drugs it could be argued that no new control methodologies have resulted. This review addresses the major areas of sheep blowfly research over this period describing the significant outcomes and analyses, and what is still required to produce new commercial control technologies. The use of drugs against this fly species has been very successful but resistance has developed to almost all current compounds. Integrated pest management is becoming basic to control, especially in the absence of mulesing, and has clearly benefited from computer-aided technologies. Biological control has more challenges but natural and perhaps transformed biopesticides offer possibilities for the future. Experimental vaccines have been developed but require further analysis of antigens and formulations to boost protection. Genetic technologies may provide potential for long-term control through more rapid indirect selection of sheep less prone to flystrike. Finally in the future, genetic analysis of the fly may allow suppression and perhaps eradication of blowfly populations or identification of new and more viable targets for drug and vaccine intervention. Clearly all these areas of research offer potential new controls but commercial development is perhaps inhibited by the success of current chemical insecticides and certainly requires a significant additional injection of resources. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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McCarthy, D; Lomax, S; Windsor, P A; White, P J
2016-01-01
Impracticality and cost of existing pain management strategies during surgical castration of beef cattle have limited their widespread implementation on-farm. A farmer-applied topical anaesthetic formulation, originally developed and used commercially to mitigate the pain of mulesing in lambs, was investigated for its potential use for managing pain in surgically castrated calves. This formulation contained lidocaine, bupivacaine, adrenalin and cetrimide. In this study, 24 Angus bull calves were randomly allocated to (1) surgical castration (C, n=8), (2) surgical castration with the post-operative application of topical anaesthetic (CTA, n=8) and (3) sham castration/control (CON, n=8). The experiment was conducted over 2 days, with treatment groups evenly represented across each day. Calves were habituated to handling before the experiment and blood samples were collected for plasma cortisol measurement at defined time periods before, at and post treatment, (at -0.5, 0 h, then +0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 4 and 6 h). There was a significant effect of time on cortisol concentrations across all treatment groups (P<0.01), with lowest concentrations at -0.5 and 6 h and peak concentration at 0.5 h being significantly higher than the cortisol response at 0 h. The effect of treatment was not significant (P=0.077), however, there was a trend for CON calves to display lower cortisol concentrations than C and CTA calves and CTA calves to display lower cortisol concentrations than C calves. The mean area under the curve (AUC) of CON calves was significantly lower than those of C and CTA calves (P=0.04), however, there was no significant difference between the AUCs of CTA and C calves. Immediate application of topical anaesthetic after surgical castration did not significantly reduce plasma cortisol concentrations. However, the trend for CTA calves to display lower cortisol concentrations than C calves warrants further investigation into the use of TA for pain relief of surgically castrated beef calves.