Sessions

In dairy herds, lameness is one of the most frequent pathologies worldwide, causing substantial animal welfare and economic losses. Although preventive and therapeutic hoof trimming is a widespread practice, pain management still receives limited attention today. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) containing carprofen and ketoprofen in severely lame cows as an adjunct to hoof care protocols, by evaluating changes in the animals' physiological, behavioral, and production parameters.

A total of 24 severely lame (lameness score 4-5) Holstein-Friesian cows were enrolled in two replicates (July and September 2026; 12 cows/replicate). The animals were allocated into three homogeneous groups (control/placebo, carprofen, and ketoprofen). Following hoof trimming using the five-step Dutch method, the preparations were administered parenterally. During the experimental period (days -1 to +7), we continuously monitored behavioral parameters (via accelerometers), heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV, via heart rate monitors), as well as the temperature and extent of hoof lesions (via thermal cameras). The evaluation was conducted blindly on the pooled data of the two replicates (7–8 animals per group).

Following the intervention, heart rate acutely increased, returning to baseline levels in an average of 115 minutes. Acute changes in HRV could not be verified due to motion artifacts. Daily lying times (9.0–10.2 hours) did not differ significantly between the groups; however, the diurnal distribution of lying shifted: on day 3, dawn lying proportions increased, late evening proportions decreased, and standing bouts became shorter. Thermal imaging highlighted that hoof temperature was heavily influenced by environmental factors (e.g., heat stress in July). The extent of suspected inflammatory areas decreased in one treated group (carprofen) while increasing in the other two. Nevertheless, this reduction was not corroborated by the analysis of covariance performed due to the groups' varying baseline values. No significant differences were found in the behavioral indicators or composite response indices among the three groups.

The hypothesis that NSAIDs reduce inflammatory areas and improve comfort could only be supported with reservations. However, the inability to distinguish between treatments based on behavioral and cardiac parameters does not indicate ineffective analgesia; rather, it results from the low statistical power (~15%) caused by the small sample size (achieving 80% power would require about 52 animals per group). These findings provide a baseline for optimizing pain management protocols in dairy cows, which may ultimately enhance both animal welfare and production efficiency.