Yass Valley Veterinary will be hosting an information night for sheep producers, to present pain relief options at lamb marking and to encourage the adoption of these pain relief products into a pain management program. The development of effective and practical anaesthetic and analgesic treatments at lamb marking time, has been a critical advance in alleviating the pain and distress lambs experience associated with essential husbandry procedures such as mulesing, tail docking, ear tagging, earmarking and castration.
The use of a combination of local anaesthetic with anti-inflammatory drugs, for lambs undergoing these routine husbandry procedures, provides greater amelioration of the pain response than the use of a single agent alone and is recommended as the current best practice.
The evening will kick off with a welcome and introduction from Dr Stuart Williams of Yass Valley Veterinary.
Adam Dawes the general manager of Wool Producers Australia will then talk on the importance of pain relief in the context of consumer sentiment and regulatory perspectives. Stuart Miles, NSW Territory Sales Manager from Dechra Veterinary Products will then present information on Trisolfen, an over-the-counter, topical formulation with a combination of two local anaesthetics for instant and longer-term pain relief, adrenaline to reduce bleeding and an antiseptic agent to help reduce infection risk, that is directly applied to marking & mulesing wounds. Allison Kelleher the NSW-West Key Account Manager from Troy will then present on Bucalgesic, an over-the-counter, gel that is deposited into the cheek pouch of the lamb and Meloxicam an S4 subcutaneous injection. Both these products are Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) that alleviate the pain associated with routine husbandry procedures in cattle and sheep, over a longer time period.
The last speaker is Sarah Birt, Manager at Senesio who will talk on the Numnuts marking device which is a rubber ring applicator combined with an injector that dispenses NumOcaine anaesthetic providing targeted pain relief for tail docking and castration of sheep. The evening will finish with a summary and cost comparison.
Provision of pain relief to animals enhances their ability to cope with the painful procedure, while also promoting healing by alleviation of tissue trauma and inflammatory processes.
Products like Tri-Solfen® or NumOcaine® provide an anaesthetic effect to reduce the sensation of pain at the time of the procedure. Tri-Solfen® helps control blood loss due to the inclusion of adrenaline which constricts blood vessels and contains an antiseptic to help prevent infection and promote healing.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs such as injectable meloxicam (various brands) or oral meloxicam (Buccalgesic® or Butec®), work on alleviating the pain associated with inflammation after the procedure and contribute to an animal’s ability to return to normal activities.
Some of the pain relief products are Schedule 5 (S5) or Schedule 6 (S6) and available over the counter at agricultural stores, while some are Schedule 4 products (S4) and must be prescribed and dispensed by a veterinary surgeon who has a bone fide professional relationship with the producer.
As veterinarians and advocates for pain relief in animals, Dr Williams and staff at Yass Valley Veterinary felt it was important to host an evening where the different types of pain relief and analgesics products were explained and discussed. The whole idea of the information night is to be practical, transparent and to advocate and encourage the more widespread use of a multi-modal pain relief approach, at lamb marking time.
The 3 presenters will have display areas on the evening, where products and devices are explained and demonstrated & producers are able to ask questions. The information night hosted by Yass Valley Veterinary is on Thursday 15th June at 7pm at the Yass Golf Club. Please RSVP ASAP to admin@yassvet.com.au or on 02 6226 4444
