Effect of Dehorning and Multi-Alleviation Treatment on the Growth, Behavior, and Blood Parameters of Korean Cattle Bull Calves

This study was performed to determine the effects of dehorning and multi-alleviation treatment (MAT) on growth, behavior, and blood parameters of Korean cattle. Thirty six Korean cattle bull calves (BW = 172.0 kg; 223 d of age) were allocated to four treatments (n = 9/group): no dehorning without MAT injection; no dehorning with MAT injection; dehorning without MAT injection; dehorning with MAT injection. Multi-alleviation treatment included 5 mL of 2% lidocaine hydrochloride injection for local anesthesia in each horn and 2 mg/kg BW of 50 mg/mL flunixin meglumine i.v. for anti-inflammation in the neck immediately prior to dehorning. For the no-MAT groups, a 0.9% NaCl placebo solution was used. Dehorning was performed using a Barnes dehorner, and cautery iron was used to stop bleeding. Blood was collected immediately before and h 0.5, h 5, d 1, d 3, d 7, and d 14 after dehorning and MAT injection. Feed intake was recorded daily, and BW was measured on the day prior to the experiment and at d 14. Behavior was measured between h 0 and h 3 after dehorning. All data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA with the main effects of dehorning and MAT, using the mixed model procedure. Dehorning did not affect (P > 0.08) weight gain. Dehorning decreased eating (P < 0.01) and increased lying (P < 0.05) behaviors, but MAT did not affect these behaviors. Dehorning x MAT interaction was observed (P = 0.01) for head shaking. Dehorning tended (P = 0.06) to increase head shaking, and MAT decreased head shaking in the dehorning group, but not in no dehorning group. Dehorning increased (P < 0.001) circulating cortisol concentrations only at h 0.5, but MAT did not affect cortisol concentrations. Dehorning increased (P < 0.01) glucose concentrations at h 0.5 and tended (P = 0.07) to increase glucose concentrations at h 5, but MAT did not affect glucose concentrations. In conclusion, dehorning changed behaviors (eating, lying, and head shaking) and increased cortisol concentrations at h 0.5 without affecting growth. Multi-alleviation treatment decreased frequency of head shaking, but it did not alleviate cortisol concentrations and did not affect eating and lying frequencies. Our study indicates that additional strategy, in addition to the MAT, is recommended for alleviating dehorning stress of male calves.