Delivery of local anaesthetic at the time of castration and tail docking (marking) could improve welfare outcomes in lambs. This study examined pain responses in lambs marked using rubber rings, with or without local anaesthetic precision injected using the Numnuts® instrument. On each of two commercial farms, 150 prime lambs aged 4 to 10 weeks, balanced for sex, were randomly allocated to 3 treatments: handled in a lambing cradle (Sham), handled and marked with rubber rings (Ring) or handled and marked with rubber rings and treated with 30 mg lignocaine using the Numnuts® instrument (NNLA). Time to mother up (one trial site only), acute pain related behaviours at 5, 20, 35 and 50 min, and postures at 10 min intervals from 60 to 180 min were recorded. NNLA lambs tended to mother up more quickly than Ring lambs (P = 0.09), and more slowly (P = 0.07) than Sham lambs. Acute pain behaviours were significantly more frequent in Ring and NNLA than Sham (P < 0.001) from 5 to 50 min. NNLA was significantly lower than Ring at 5 min (P < 0.001) and 20 min (P = 0.001). Ring and NNLA did not differ at 35 or 50 min. Abnormal postures were higher in Ring and NNLA than Sham at 60, 70, 80, 90 and 150 min (P < 0.048). Ring and NNLA did not differ at any time point between 60 and 180 min. Delivery of lignocaine with the Numnuts® instrument improved welfare outcome of lambs during the acute pain response caused by castration and tail docking with rubber rings.

去势和尾巴对接（标记）时局部麻醉药的使用可以改善羔羊的福利结果。这项研究检查了使用橡胶环标记的羔羊的疼痛反应，无论是否使用Numnuts®器械注射局部麻醉剂。在两个商业农场的每一个中，将150只年龄在4至10周之间，性别均衡的优质羔羊随机分配给3种处理方式：在羔羊摇篮（Sham）中处理，用橡胶圈（Ring）进行标记或用橡胶环进行标记橡胶环，并使用Numnuts®仪器（NNLA）用30 mg利多卡因进行处理。记录起床时间（仅一个试验地点），5、20、35和50分钟时与急性疼痛相关的行为以及60至180分钟时每10分钟的姿势。NNLA羔羊的产卵速度比Ring羔羊（P = 0.09），并且 比假小羊更慢（P = 0.07）。在 5分钟至50分钟内，Ring和NNLA的急性疼痛行为比Sham（P <0.001）更为频繁。在5分钟（P <0.001）和20分钟（P  = 0.001）时，NNLA显着低于Ring 。Ring和NNLA在35或50分钟时没有差异。在60、70、80、90和150分钟时，Ring和NNLA中的异常姿势高于Sham（P  <0.048）。在60到180分钟之间的任何时间点，Ring和NNLA都没有差异。用Numnuts®器械输送木脂卡因可改善cast割和橡胶环尾部对接引起的急性疼痛反应期间羔羊的福利结果。