Providing pain relief during animal husbandry procedures is a better choice for your livestock, your business and your industry. Australian Animal Welfare Standards and key industry organisations, including Meat & Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, Animal Health Australia and the Australian Sheep, Beef and Dairy Sustainability Frameworks, all advocate the provision of pain relief during routine animal husbandry procedures.1-8 These guidelines recommend the provision of relief from acute (fast) and chronic (slow) pain during animal husbandry procedures.² In practical terms, this should involve the administration of anaesthetic and analgesic products.

Anaesthesia refers to loss of physical sensation with or without loss of consciousness. Anaesthetic products, such as lignocaine and bupivacaine, reduce or eliminate pain by blocking the nerve signals from damaged tissue that are responsible for the sensation of pain. In general, local anaesthetics provide rapid relief from acute pain but are shorter-acting. Lignocaine provides immediate (within 60 seconds) pain relief on surgical wounds. Bupivacaine provides longer-acting (up to 24 hours) pain relief on surgical wounds. Lignocaine and bupivacaine are both widely used in human healthcare. Anaesthetic products registered for pain relief in livestock include Tri-Solfen® (lignocaine and bupivacaine) and NumOcaine® (lignocaine).

Analgesia refers to pain relief without total loss of feeling or consciousness. Analgesic products, such as Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), block the synthesis of prostaglandins that cause inflammation, swelling, pain and fever. In general, analgesics are less effective in relieving acute pain but provide longer-lasting relief from chronic pain. For example, meloxicam takes 15–30 minutes2 to take effect and can provide pain relief for 24 to 72 hours.9 Meloxicam is also widely used in human healthcare. Analgesics registered for pain relief in livestock include the buccal meloxicam formulations, Butec® OTM and Buccalgesic® OTM (meloxicam), and various injectable meloxicam formulations.

As a leading supplier of veterinary pharmaceuticals to the Australian livestock industry, Dechra actively supports the adoption of best practice pain relief guidelines. Dechra is also a proud partner of Better Choices, an independently-audited program that enables livestock producers to certify they implement best practice animal welfare standards.