Aims The aim of this experiment was to determine if the provision of straw and the presence of undocked twins could be used to mitigate the pain experienced by lambs having their tails docked using rubber rings. Methods A total of 54 twin St. Croix 60-days-old weaned lambs were assigned to one of four treatments: (i) the presence of undocked twins and no provision of straw (U); (ii) the provision of straw and no presence of undocked twins (St); (iii) the provision of straw and the presence of undocked twins (StU); and (iv) no provision of straw and no presence of undocked twins (C). Straw was provided as bed material over the concrete floor; whereas the presence of undocked twins was achieved by leaving one twin intact within each pair. From the placement of the rubber rings, the behaviour of tail-docked twins was video recorded continuously for 60 min, and blood samples were taken from these lambs immediately before placing the rubber ring (time 0), and at 0.5, 1, 1.5, 24, 48 and 72 h after, for cortisol and physio-metabolic profiles determination, and at 168 h after, for cortisol determination. Key results Lambs in treatment C spent three times longer in abnormal lying postures (P = 0.002) compared with St and StU lambs (6.49 ± 4.73 vs 1.78 ± 1.26 and 1.83 ± 1.94 min respectively). Lambs in all treatments experienced an increase in cortisol levels 1 h after tail docking, except for StU lambs. In addition, 48 and 72 h after tail docking, lambs in treatments St and StU had lower concentrations of cortisol than C lambs. Conclusion This study shows that the provision of straw and the presence of undocked twins reduce the behavioural and physiological expressions of pain associated with tail docking in lambs. Implications In lambs raised under intensive conditions, the addition of straw as bedding material and the presence of intact tail lambs could be a practical strategy to improve the welfare of tail-docked lambs, whereas for those lambs raised under extensive conditions, leaving intact those lambs that will be sold might serve as social buffering for their tail-docked conspecifics that will remain in the farm.

中文翻译：

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提供稻草和未断尾羔羊的存在减少了与羔羊断尾相关的疼痛和压力的行为和生理表现：一项初步研究

目的 该实验的目的是确定是否可以使用稻草和未对接双胞胎的存在来减轻使用橡胶环对接尾巴的羔羊所经历的疼痛。方法 总共 54 只圣克罗伊岛 60 天大断奶的双胞胎羔羊被分配到以下四种处理中的一种：(i) 存在未对接双胞胎且不提供稻草 (U)；(ii) 提供稻草并且不存在未对接的双胞胎 (St)；(iii) 稻草的提供和未对接双胞胎 (StU) 的存在；(iv) 不提供稻草，也不存在未对接的双胞胎 (C)。稻草作为铺在混凝土地板上的床料；而非对接双胞胎的存在是通过在每对中留下一个完整的双胞胎来实现的。从橡胶圈的位置来看，对尾对接双胞胎的行为进行连续 60 分钟的视频记录，并在放置橡胶圈之前（时间 0）和之后的 0.5、1、1.5、24、48 和 72 小时从这些羔羊身上采集血样，用于皮质醇和生理代谢曲线测定，并在 168 小时后用于测定皮质醇。主要结果 与 St 和 StU 羔羊相比，治疗 C 中的羔羊在异常躺姿上花费的时间长三倍（P = 0.002）（分别为 6.49 ± 4.73 对 1.78 ± 1.26 和 1.83 ± 1.94 分钟）。除 StU 羔羊外，所有处理中的羔羊在断尾后 1 小时都经历了皮质醇水平的增加。此外，断尾后 48 小时和 72 小时，处理 St 和 StU 的羔羊的皮质醇浓度低于 C 羔羊。结论 本研究表明，提供吸管和未断尾双胞胎的存在减少了羔羊断尾相关疼痛的行为和生理表现。启示 在集约化条件下饲养的羔羊中，添加稻草作为垫料和完整尾羔的存在可能是改善断尾羔羊福利的实用策略，而对于在粗放条件下饲养的羔羊，保留完整的羔羊将被出售的那些可能会作为他们留在农场的尾对接同种的社会缓冲。