Pig International - September 2017 - 26
26 ❙ PigInternational PAIN MANAGEMENT IN PIGS cost can greatly limit the ability of producers within certain countries to achieve the gold standard for pain control. In response, our practice has recommended one of two treatment protocols: injection of meloxicam (Metacam for swine) at castration or oral administration of meloxicam to mitigate the post-castration pain. Studies and promising results Considering the barriers to use of a gold standard pain control protocol, in Canada the expectation now is that analgesics alone are used at castration and tail docking. A recent study in Canada using a novel behavioral analysis tool, shown in the photos, has shown promising results using injectable analgesics for pain control post-castration. The piglets are timed running through Picture of the actual chute used in the trial. Two hurdles were placed in the slots. Piglets exited the chute from the righthand side to return to the farrowing crate. the chute and over two hurdles to analyze pain. The study has shown that piglets given injectable meloxicam (0.4 mg/kg IM, Metacam for swine, Boehringer Ingelheim Canada) are significantly faster after castration compared to piglets given no pain control. The study specifically looked at whether there was a difference in post-procedural pain control when the meloxicam was given 30 minutes prior to castration versus immediately before castration. The study showed that there were no significant differences in the speed post-castration at any time point between the two treatment FEED iNSIGHTS Covering Innovative Feed Research Discover scientific breakthroughs and new solutions for the animal feed ingredient industry in this new digital publication. Subscribe now to have a complimentary copy sent directly to your inbox! https://goo.gl/EpBFzr www.WATTAgNet.com ❙ September 2017