Currently, the use of pain mitigation in beef cattle is sporadic at best. With limited approved and labeled drug product options available to alleviate the effects of procedures such as castration and dehorning, it’s difficult to navigate the various pressure points and establish a realistic path forward.
“As we stand, the demand for pain management doesn’t come from animal welfare organizations,” says Jenna Funk, beef cattle veterinarian at the Veterinary Education, Research and Outreach Center of West Texas A&M University. “They’re more concerned with stopping all animal agriculture to begin with. Pain mitigation is part of the built-in minutiae of ensuring our animals are taken care of properly. That’s what keeps it on our list of concerns.”
Funk suggests familiarity and the routine of practices such as castration and dehorning sometimes cause their associated pain levels to be overlooked by veterinarians and producers alike. Currently, most management in the U.S. beef sector is extralabel drug use, as the only medication with an approved label is Banamine Transdermal, which is restricted to foot rot discomfort. As the laws are written, if no product exists for a treatable condition, the option for extralabel dosage is possible. Veterinarians are encouraged to contact the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) for guidance regarding residue issues and dosage levels.
Unfortunately, pain relief choices are limited, with meloxicam being the most popular. It can be used in an extralabel fashion if the condition isn’t foot rot. An attractive trait of meloxicam is that it’s reasonably inexpensive. Fifteen-milligram tablets are given orally at three per 100 pounds once per day. Additionally, it may be mixed in feed if the affected animal is alone in a pen.
Calculating accurate pain levels
Michael Kleinhenz, assistant professor of beef production medicine at Kansas State University, believes the push for pain mitigation with husbandry procedures or injuries in the beef sector has traction behind it. Consumers are concerned about the welfare of cattle pre-harvest, and producers strive to provide the best possible care for their animals.
“Veterinarians, owners and the beef industry in general are interested in management for actions such as castration and dehorning,” he says. “It’s just a matter of 'What drugs do we use to provide it?' Right now, we’re only allowed extralabel use.”
Proving effectiveness against pain is difficult, as accurate and objective pain models are required to quantify discomfort levels in food production animals.
“We don’t have a way to put a number on its level,” says Kleinhenz. “We ask, ‘Is this animal in pain? Yes or no? Does this drug relieve it? Yes or no?’ We have biomarkers and other methods correlating to pain, but they don’t specifically measure it.”
Kleinhenz says various technologies related to kinetic gait analysis are being explored in his lab and are receiving FDA favor. Affected cattle alter their walking gaits and posture to alleviate discomfort.
Blood biomarkers releasing cells signaling pain pathways in the blood following castration and dehorning are also being looked at as part of a USDA grant.
Productivity questions
Kleinhenz says most agree castration and dehorning are followed by degrees of pain. Veterinarians prescribing mitigation routinely relate that calves receiving it appear to look better than their counterparts that went without. Producers indicate treated calves look brighter and return to the feedbunk more quickly. Research has shown calves undergoing management have lower pain scores than those receiving placebos. Average daily gain (ADG) has also been studied and while positive economic returns aren’t guaranteed, they’re normally breakeven at minimum.
“This was the Holy Grail when we first started looking at analgesics following these procedures,” Kleinhenz says. “Did these animals respond better? Research supports they do benefit slightly with an increased ADG during the first few days following these actions. It also appears they don’t get as sick. This doesn’t correlate to automatic effects, but there are some positive economic downhill impacts occurring.”
Sharpening the pencil for long-term health benefits
Funk agrees and says producers demand a financial benefit from pain mitigation or the cost doesn’t pencil out. In large-scale production settings, compensatory gains are being realized in short-term performance following castration and dehorning accompanied by management in the form of local blocks, NSAIDs or combinations thereof.
“This seems to equal about 30 days,” she explains. “But after 60 to 90 days, those not receiving pain alleviation also have compensatory gains once the effects of the intense event have dispersed. In the end, it looks like a wash. For extended cattle, there doesn’t appear to be an economic benefit, as they’re still getting compensatory gain without management.”
She adds a longer-term advantage has materialized in the form of respiratory treatment reductions due to lower stress levels, initiating stronger immune system responses. When speaking with owners, she emphasizes this potential of lower respiratory illness and death rather than improved weight gain or feed performance.
Funk believes without a guaranteed profitability benefit, what may shake up the market or change the pain mitigation perspective is a consumer group claiming the cause as its soapbox to stand on.
“We’ve seen this before,” she says. “Major change won’t happen until the consumer demands it. I don’t see drug labels adapting anytime soon unless one of these groups gets solidly behind this cause.”
She says agricultural lobby groups have the finances to help ensure animal agriculture is protected. Their influence also maintains a strong presence in Washington, D.C. As such, she doesn’t envision national regulations or broad federal guidance on the horizon.
Kleinhenz foresees an increase in usable drugs becoming available and approved to formalize the industry’s readiness to institute mitigation.
“We’ll continue looking for better ways to measure pain,” he says. “Examining biomarkers and techniques to verify levels and determine how it can be diminished. Eventually, we’ll get more consumer pushback to the level of beef processors demanding this.”
Kleinhenz outlines several choices, techniques and options are currently available for all variations of farms and ranches. He urges cattle producers to work with their veterinarians to find the correct prescription drug and timing in terms of application to suit their specific operational needs.
