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Description

Wounds caused by caustic paste application take longer to heal than wounds from hot iron disbudding. However, little work has focused on factors influencing healing following caustic paste disbudding. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of paste area and thickness on disbudding wound characteristics and healing progression. Female Holstein calves (n = 20) were randomly assigned to one of two paste areas: large (22 mm diameter) or small (12 mm diameter). Within each calf, one horn bud was treated with a thin layer of paste (1 mm) and the other with a thick layer (2 mm). Disbudding was performed between 4 to 6 d of age using multimodal pain management (sedation, local nerve block, and analgesics). Healing progress was monitored weekly through dimensional measurements (size and depth), wound tissue type classification, and pressure pain threshold (PPT) testing until they had fully re-epithelialized. The large paste area created wounds 60% larger than the small paste area and the thick paste created wounds 10% larger than the thin paste. The effect of paste area was observed throughout the healing process, but the effect of thickness was observed only while necrotic tissue was present. There was no difference in PPT between treatments and wound tissue types. Scurs were observed on all horn buds disbudded with the small paste area, but on none of the buds disbudded with the large area. These findings show that caustic paste application method affects wound size, wound healing and scur development.