Differences between goat kids and calves in relation to cautery disbudding

Abstract

Limited scientific literature is available for developing ‘best-practice’ guidelines for the disbudding of goat kids. Disbudding practices for dairy goat kids and calves appear to be similar; however, when considering goat welfare, it is important to recognize that goat kids are not small calves. Disbudding causes pain, impacting on the welfare of both species. The objectives of this review are to evaluate scientific literature on disbudding of goat kids and calves, and compare cautery disbudding methodologies, behavioral and physiological responses to disbudding, and pain mitigation strategies across the 2 species. There are significant differences in methodologies including age, iron power source, temperature and iron application timing, and higher risks of brain injury in kids compared with calves. In addition, goat kids appear to have a shorter duration of behavioral and physiological responses, and there are differences in efficacy of pain mitigation strategies across the 2 species; future research is needed to optimize pain mitigation for goat kids. Establishing best-practice guidelines for disbudding goat kids requires managers to recognize that they are not small calves.