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Abstract

Pain during and immediately after routine husbandry procedures has been widely studied, and mitigation strategies have been developed. However, pain experienced during the healing period—lasting pain—remains poorly understood and under-assessed. The aim of this thesis was to develop methods for assessing lasting pain and, using these methods, evaluate strategies to mitigate it. Chapter 1 reviewed existing pain assessment techniques and evaluated their potential for detecting lasting pain. It also explored factors that may influence pain during the healing period. Chapter 2 investigated a memory test paradigm as a tool for assessing lasting pain following hot-iron disbudding. No differences in memory performance were found between disbudded and control calves, suggesting that this method may not reflect lasting pain. Chapter 3 explored behavioural indicators—short-term lying bouts and half-lying bouts—and memory improvement as potential markers of lasting pain following castration. Short-term lying bouts were more sensitive to acute pain than general lying behaviour, but no reliable indicators of lasting pain were identified. Chapter 4 shifted focus to pain mitigation strategies that do not rely on pain assessment. Specifically, it examined how hot-iron application time and tip size affect wound characteristics and healing. Larger tips produced larger wounds with longer healing times, while longer application times resulted in deeper and larger wounds but did not affect healing duration. I conclude that the memory test did not prove effective for assessing lasting pain, but that refining procedural factors—such as iron tip size and application time—can reduce healing time and potentially mitigate any resulting pain. This thesis highlights the need for more sensitive and reliable indicators of lasting pain and suggests that procedural refinement may offer a practical path forward.