Efficacy of oral meloxicam as primary pain mitigation following caustic paste disbudding of three day old Holstein calves.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of perioperative administration of oral meloxicam prior to and following the application of caustic paste to disbud neonatal dairy calves. Sixty-one 3-4-d-old Holstein heifer calves were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups of 15-16 calves. The treatment groups were: 1) M1, caustic paste disbudding and oral meloxicam (45 mg) with a placebo 24 h later; 2) M2, treatment M1 followed by a second 45-mg dose of meloxicam 24 h later instead of placebo; 3) CONTROL, treatment M1 with placebo in place of meloxicam; and 4) SHAM, sham disbudding with placebo in place of meloxicam.