a survey of castration methods and associated livestock management practices performed by bovine veterinarians in the united states阉割的调查方法和相关的牲畜管理实践由牛兽医在美国.pdfVIP

Coetzee et al. BMC Veterinary Research 2010, 6:12 /1746-6148/6/12 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access A survey of castration methods and associated livestock management practices performed by bovine veterinarians in the United States 1* 2 1 2 Johann F Coetzee , Abbey L Nutsch , Laura A Barbur , Ryan M Bradburn Abstract Background: Castration of male calves destined for beef production is a common management practice performed in the United States amounting to approximately 15 million procedures per year. Societal concern about the moral and ethical treatment of animals is increasing. Therefore, production agriculture is faced with the challenge of formulating animal welfare policies relating to routine management practices such as castration. To enable the livestock industry to effectively respond to these challenges there is a need for more data on management practices that are commonly used in cattle production systems. The objective of this survey was to describe castration methods, adverse events and husbandry procedures performed by U.S. veterinarians at the time of castration. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent to email addresses of 1,669 members of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and 303 members of the Academy of Veterinary Consultants. Results: After partially completed surveys and missing data were omitted, 189 responses were included in the analysis. Surgical castration with a scalpel followed by testicular removal by twisting (calves 90 kg) or an emasculator (calves 90 kg) was the most common method of castration used. The potential risk of injury to the operator, size of the calf, handling facilities and experience with the technique were the most important considerations used to determine