Wisconsin's "stale calf" issue and a study designed to resolve some of the animal welfare concerns

A unique law (Act 201) requiring livestock markets to place an identifying mark on calves up to 90 kg each time they are sold went into effect in Wisconsin in 1993. The intent of the law is to reduce the number of times calves are resold and hence become "stale." The original proponents of the law proposed that calves be ear-notched each time they are sold. Ear notching, however, was resisted by Wisconsin regulatory agencies partly because of fear of an adverse public reaction. These authors then conducted a study to determine the approximate amount of discomfort experienced by young Holstein calves during ear notching. Six 2-mo-old Holstein calves were used to determine heart rate and behavioral responses to a standard "V" pig ear notcher (6 mm wide x 14 mm deep) applied between the tip and halfway down the dorsal edge of the left ear. Five other calves were given 30 s of access to a rubber nipple to provide a comparison to a desirable stimulus. Ear notching only elicited a mild startle response that lasted 1 to 2 s followed by resumption of normal behavior. The calves presented with the nipple suckled or butted the nipple for the full 30 s. The mean heart rate for the 30-s period in which treatments occurred was 95 +/- 4.8 bpm and 110 +/- 5.8 bpm for the notched and suckled calves, respectively, and was not influenced by treatments (P = .50).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)