By Candice Cottrell BVSc, territory manager – farm animals, Dechra Veterinary Products 

Providing pain relief during surgical animal husbandry procedures is a better choice for livestock, producers and the industry as a whole.

A national survey conducted by the Sheep Sustainability Framework shows the vast majority of Australian sheep and wool producers already provide pain relief to lambs during mulesing. 

However, the provision of pain relief during tail docking or castration remains considerably lower.

Docking and castration can be performed with a hot or cold knife or most commonly, via the application of rubber rings to the tail or scrotum.

All methods cause acute (fast) and chronic (slow) pain.

This pain can be alleviated via the administration of anaesthetic or analgesic products.

In general, anaesthetics provide rapid relief from acute pain but are short-acting, while analgesics provide longer relief from chronic pain but are less effective in relieving acute pain.

Anaesthesia refers to loss of physical sensation with or without loss of consciousness.

Local anaesthetics, such as lignocaineand bupivacaine, reduce or eliminate pain by blocking the nerve signals from damaged tissue that are responsible for the sensation of pain.

Lignocaine provides immediate (within60 seconds) pain relief on surgical wounds, while bupivacaine provides longer-acting pain relief on surgical wounds.

Both actives are commonly used inhuman healthcare.

Analgesia refers to pain relief without total loss of feeling or consciousness.

Common analgesics include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which block the synthesis of prostaglandins that cause inflammation, swelling and pain.

They are typically used to reduce inflammation, pain and fever in humans.

NSAIDs take 15-30 minutes to take effect and can provide pain relief for24–72 hours.

Examples include buccal and injectable formulations containing meloxicam.

Best practice guidelines recommend the provision of acute and chronic pain relief (i.e. multi-modal programs) when mulesing, docking and castrating lambs.

Ideally, this should involve the administration of a local anaesthetic to manage acute pain and an analgesic to manage chronic pain.

In most situations, best practice pain relief for lambs will involve the concurrent use of Tri-Solfen or Numnuts in combination with anon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (e.g. meloxicam).

Tri-Solfen is the first choice for acute and lasting pain relief (up to 24 hours) for lambs following surgical procedures (e.g. mulesing and or hot/cold knife docking and castration.

This easy-to-apply, spray-on gel contains lignocaine and bupivacaine for immediate and lasting relief against acute pain; adrenaline, which reduces bleeding and slows the ‘inflammatory cascade’; and cetrimide, an antiseptic and surfactant that helps to start the healing process and protect against infection.

Numnuts is the world’s first all-in-one rubber ring applicator and targeted pain relief delivery mechanism for lambs.

This patented device applies a standard Elastrator rubber ring and then safely injects a calibrated dose of NumOcaine (lignocaine).

The concurrent administration of anon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (e.g. meloxicam) will provide longer-lasting relief from chronic pain.

Producers can demonstrate their commitment to delivering best-practice animal welfare standards by registering in the Better Choices program (betterchoices.com.au).

This independently audited program enables livestock producers to certify they implement best-practice animal welfare standards.