Prevention and management of surgical pain in cattle

Management of pain continues to be an important consideration in livestock on which surgical procedures are performed. A balance must be achieved between the need to mitigate discomfort and the economic constraints of the production enterprise. Moral and ethical dilemmas have increased among consumers and these concerns have stimulated interest to reexamine the methods used to achieve the shared goals of humane production of safe, affordable animal products for human consumption. This article discusses drug and anesthetic protocols for field surgery of cattle, including nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, opioids, local and regional anesthesia, epidural anesthesia, and electroacupuncture.