Children caring for birds:

Owning a pet bird provides a child with companionship and teaches the child responsibility and care. Parents must still supervise the day-to-day care so that the bird is not neglected through ignorance or loss of interest.

CALF DISBUDDING SERVICES:

Recent studies show that the use of sedation and local anaesthetic during disbudding of calves significantly reduces the stress and pain associated with this procedure. 

Calf disbudding is the removal of horn-producing tissue prior to its attachment to the frontal bone. 

Calves disbudded with sedation and pain relief have been shown to have 17% higher average daily growth rates in the two weeks following disbudding when compared to calves without. This average daily growth rate in heifers prior to puberty has a huge impact on lactation performance over their lifetime. 

CALF DISBUDDING PROCEDURE

Our process is designed to allow easier disbudding whilst maintaining animal welfare. 

We reduce the stress, discomfort and other negative health impacts from the disbudding process via the application of local anaesthetic to the horn base, which allows us to complete the job consistently and efficiently.  

Additionally, we administer an anti-inflammatory injection which offers long-acting pain relief. 

Calves are checked for hernias or extra teats and treated accordingly. 

DISBUDDING REQUIREMENTS

The following guidelines are essential to providing the most effective stress and pain free disbudding procedure:

• Calves must be older the 2 weeks of age to handle the sedation that is administered 
• Do NOT feed the calves 6 hours prior to the disbudding, to avoid bloating, choking and aspistration of food.
• Sick calves should have disbudding delayed. 

DISBUDDING SCHEDULING GUIDELINES

• Avoid booking in extreme temperatures
• Depending on calf numbers and feeding constraints, appointments can be booked for mornings or afternoons
• Morning appointments are ideal, however calves that are on once a day feeds can be fed in the morning and disbudded later the same day.

DISBUDDING SERVICES & COST

• Heavy sedation
• Local anaesthetic disbudding
• Anti-inflammatory pain releif
• Hernia checks
  
  COST: $11.00 per calf

DISBUDDING AFTER-CARE

Calves should be monitored post disbudding to ensure full recovery from the procedure.

Delayed Wake Up: on completion, our Vets will assess the calves for alterness and treat accordingly. If calves are still unresponsive after 3 hours after disbudding, please contact us.

Feeding: as calves have been off milk for some time we would like them fed approx 2 hours after completion of the procedure.

Temperature: following sedation, calves have reduced ability to regulate body temperature so need shade on hot days and wind-breaks etc on cold days.

BOOK AN APPOINTMENT:

For more information or to schedule and appointment for calf disbudding, please phone our clinic on 03-5872 1233