Early Pain Experiences in Dairy Calves on Pain Sensitivity Later in Life

In humans, early painful experiences can increase pain sensitivity later in life, but little is known regarding this phenomenon in cattle. This study assessed if a painful event early in life affects later pain sensitivity in 40-d-old calves. Holstein calves (n = 26) were randomly assigned to control or treatment conditions, blocked within sex and birth weight. At 9.5 ± 1.8 d old, treatment calves had 1 horn bud disbudded using caustic paste, whereas control calves had 1 horn sham disbudded; in both cases, multimodal pain control was provided. All calves had the contralateral horn bud disbudded using a hot iron 4 wk later, again with multimodal pain control. Mechanical nociceptive responses were assessed weekly using an algometer applied adjacent to both horn buds and on the rump, beginning 3 d before the first disbudding and ending 30 d after the second disbudding. Following the second disbudding, both groups of calves showed evidence of increased sensitivity (i.e., algometer pressure declined 3.69 ± 0.60 √N to 2.13 ± 0.70 √N) on the contralateral bud, but there was no difference between the control group and the treatment groups. An interaction between treatment and time, likely driven by treatment differences, was found on the rump when tested 5 h after the second disbudding event. These responses are not consistent with the hypothesis that an early pain experience results in increased sensitivity to later painful experiences.