We hypothesized that the hoof trimming in sheep in dorsal recumbency implicates a short
but intensive stress situation and that the sedation with xylazine causes a decrease in the
stress response in this situation. Ten healthy female merino meat sheep were randomly
divided into two groups receiving either xylazine hydrochloride (0.1 mg/kg body mass
(BM) applied intramuscularly) or a placebo treatment with 0.9% NaCl. Routine hoof
trimming was performed in a tilt table and vital signs (rectal temperature (RT), heart
rate (HR), and respiratory rate (RR)), 33 different behavioral traits and blood cortisol
concentrations were recorded throughout the experiment at six different time points (total
of 55min). The procedure itself elicited a clear stress response (increase in the RR, RT,
defensive movements, lip twitching, swallowing, and flight behavior). Parallelly, the blood
cortisol concentrations were increased, reaching their maximum with 81.5 ng/ml in the
control group when the sheep were tilted back into a standing position. In the sedated
sheep, no increase in the RR and RT and a decrease in the HR were observed. In addition,
the behavioral signs showed a decrease in flight, defensive, and general stress behavior
(decrease in licking,movement of head and legs, and sitting on knees), complemented by
the serum cortisol concentrations showing 2.28 times reduced concentration at the end
of the procedure, compared to the control sheep. The results confirm our hypothesis
and support the conduction of future trials investigating the feasibility and benefit of a
sedation of sheep prior to routine hoof trimming under practical circumstances.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:89175 |
| Date | 22 January 2024 |
| Creators | Amin, Safaa, Wagner, Romy, Fieseler, Helena, Rizk, Awad, Schmicke, Marion, Spilke, Joachim, Mielenz, Norbert, Baumgartner, Walter, Schären-Bannert, Melanie, Starke, Alexander |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 795543 |
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