There is no doubt that spring time on Irish farms can set animals up for a productive year ahead.

One area of animal health which is very important is pain management.

Remember, it is not only a welfare issue - pain will also limit performance and profit.

Medicines at our disposal

At an individual animal level, we have many medicines at our disposal.

One of the most important of these are anti-inflammatories or pain relief medication.

We are often quick to rush for the antibiotic on its own, but these pain killers have a big role to play in healthy animals.

We can really help animals recover quicker and return to full production and performance potential

We must first look at inflammation and what it is. It is abnormal swelling of tissue usually due to infection or trauma.

This swelling causes pain and long term tissue damage. If we can limit this, we can really help animals recover quicker and return to full production and performance potential.

They may not be the cheapest medicines, but have huge value when used correctly.

Here are some examples of clinical cases where these anti-inflammatory drugs can be used.

Clinical mastitis

When a cow has mastitis, it is inflammation of the udder usually caused by a bacterial infection.

When we see clinical signs, such as udder swelling, heat and discoloured milk, this is acute or sudden inflammation.

This is painful for the cow and, as the disease progresses, is potentially more serious.

Most of these cases receive antibiotic tubes or injections.

A dose of anti-inflammatories as early as possible can be very valuable

While they will work, some bacteria are gone by the time we see these clinical signs.

So managing the inflammation can often be very critical for the udder and the cow.

Where we see these cases in cows with obvious inflammation and swelling, a dose of anti-inflammatories as early as possible can be very valuable.

For chronic cell count cows, they are less beneficial. So my advice is make anti-inflammatories a part of your treatment protocols for clinical mastitis.

Hard lambings or calvings

A difficult birth can cause swelling and a lot of pain. This has many effects on the freshly calved cow or ewe post-lambing.

If they are in pain, they won’t likely eat as much as they should, which is so important to meet the energy demands of milk production and rare the newborn.

It also will increase the risk of infections in the womb, particularly for cows.

So any hard calving should receive a pain killer injection.

Start administering pain medication to sheep who are handled and have had heavy pulls

With sheep, I believe it is even more critical they receive pain meds or anti-inflammatories.

If you want to do one thing to improve your spring lambing and ewe health, start administering pain medication to sheep who are handled and have had heavy pulls.

Unfortunately, we have no licensed products for sheep, but some are available under cascade from your own vet.

In Ireland, we now really need to push for licensed anti-inflammatory products for sheep ASAP.

The newborn calf

The newborn calf that has had a heavy pull will have a lot of bruising and be in pain.

All these calves should receive a pain killer as part of supportive care to get them up and going.

This, combined with a good feed of colostrum and keeping them warm, is the best way to get them up and going.

Lameness

A lot of lame animals will receive an antibiotic injection to treat or prevent infections, some require these treatments.

However, these animals will also be very sore and this can affect appetite, movement and production capacity.

As part of lameness treatments, starting an animal on a pain killer can be hugely beneficial for many reasons and also of course from the point of few of good welfare.

Pneumonia in calves

It is well recognised pneumonia is one of the big challenges of the spring time.

This inflammation of the lungs can be caused by viruses, bacteria or both.

It causes swelling and damage of the lung tissue.

The use of anti-inflammatory medications is a must in pneumonia cases early on

This will often not repair itself, so even where calves recover, they may never reach their full potential.

The use of anti-inflammatory medications is a must in pneumonia cases early on.

Think about when we have colds and flus ourselves; we rarely take or are given antibiotics, but drugs like paracetamol or nurofen are recommended.

With calves, unless we get viral pneumonias early, most cases will need antibiotics as well.

Conclusion

These are just some examples of where these anti-inflammatory drugs can be used on farm.

They are prescription medicines and must be got from your vet.

Any time we have inflammation and pain in animals, these anti-inflammatory medications can make a big difference.

They work most effectively when given early and swelling and inflammation is at its earliest stages.

There has been much research done to show that they can have positive effects

Some farmers have now started using them also for routine procedures like dehorning young calves and castration.

There has been much research done to show that they can have positive effects when given for both procedures.

This is particularly true for procedures in young dairy and suckler calves, where we want their main focus to be on growing.

Medicines used

I use four of these medicines myself in practice - meloxicam, kethophen, flunixin and caprofen.

I really liked meloxicam because it stayed active for three days. They are not cheap, but an investment worth making for better treatment outcomes and welfare of our animals this spring.

Some people will use steroids for this job also, but must be very careful around what animals they are used on.

Your own vet practice will have these medications available, so talk to your vet about which options are best for your farm.

Of course, with ever-increasing focus on animal welfare, this means good practice in general, but it also makes more sense because better treatment results will always mean more production performance.