Analgesia for Surgical Husbandry Procedures in Sheep and Other Livestock

Surgical husbandry procedures in livestock are invariably associated with pain and stress, yet are traditionally performed without analgesia. Concern for the welfare of animals undergoing these procedures is contributing to major conflicts between farmers and animal advocacy organisations with important negative trade implications. Whilst the ultimate long term solution is to breed animals that do not require these procedures, or to find painless alternative practices, this will take time and a significant research effort in most cases. In the meantime, there is an urgent need to find a more immediate way to alleviate welfare concerns. This can be achieved by developing effective low-cost analgesia for on-farm use, to allow surgical procedures in livestock to be performed as humanely as surgical procedures in domestic animals and humans, while long term solutions are pursued and implemented. The first step in reaching this goal was realised with the development and commercialisation of Tri-Solfen ® (Bayer Animal Health, Gordon NSW). Tri-Solfen ® is a low-cost, farmer-applied topical anaesthetic, haemostatic and antiseptic wound care product that significantly alleviates pain associated with mulesing. Subsequent research identified that pre-operative administration of Carprofen enhanced the analgesic effects. Used together these agents eliminate pain-related behaviour for 24 hours post mulesing and abolish the cortisol response, thus providin