Data from: Iron and laterality effects on healing of cautery disbudding wounds in dairy calves
Data files
Jul 07, 2026 version files 59.62 KB
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Disbudding_Irons_2016-2017_Dryad.xlsx
49.45 KB
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README.md
10.17 KB
Abstract
Hot-iron disbudding, the process of cauterizing the horn buds of calves or goat kids at an early age to prevent horn growth, is routinely practiced in dairy production. The wounds take weeks to heal and are painful to touch throughout this time. Possible strategies to hasten the healing of disbudding wounds are not well understood, but the type of iron used may be an important factor to consider. When evaluating strategies to hasten healing, a within-subjects design may be preferable, but laterality effects might act as a potential source of variation and confounding in this type of experiment. Our objectives were to compare healing after disbudding with 2 commercially available irons, and to determine whether wounds healed differently on the left versus the right side of the head. Ten Holstein calves 4 to 10 d of age were disbudded using the Rhinehart X50A electric disbudder (Rhinehart Development Corp., Spencerville, IN) on one horn bud and the Portasol gas disbudder (Portasol USA, Elmira, OR) on the other; side (left vs. right) was balanced between treatments. We scored wounds daily for the presence of 6 tissue types: attached necrotic tissue, detached necrotic tissue, exudate, granulation, crust, and epithelium. Surface temperature and size of the wound were measured twice-weekly using thermal and digital photographs, respectively. The type of iron used did not affect latency to re-epithelialize, which took on average (mean ± standard deviation) 53 ± 3 d and 55 ± 3 d for Portasol and Rhinehart wounds, respectively (range: 40–70 d). However, compared with Portasol wounds, those from the Rhinehart had fewer days of granulation tissue and tended to have more days of detached necrotic tissue. The Portasol tip had a smaller total surface area than the Rhinehart, which may have resulted in a less severe burn, causing the necrotic tissue to fall off sooner. The left side tended to re-epithelialize faster than the right side (mean ± standard error: left 51 ± 3 d; right 57 ± 3 d) and have fewer days of crust. Left-sided wounds were also cooler and tended to be smaller than those on the right. To assess the external validity of these laterality effects in our primary experiment (experiment A), we analyzed wound healing data from 2 other disbudding studies, one on calves (experiment B) and one on goat kids (experiment C). We observed laterality effects in the opposite direction in Experiment B, but negligible effects in experiment C, indicating that the differences in laterality had low external validity; the biological meaning of this asymmetry is unclear. Nonetheless, if using a within-subjects design, asymmetries in wound healing should be considered to avoid confounding effects. In conclusion, wounds from both irons took 7 to 8 wk to heal, on average; other strategies to accelerate healing should be explored.
This repository contains the data used to conduct the analyses and create the figures referenced in the paper of the same name. In the paper, the present dataset corresponds to Experiment A.
📄 Study Overview
This study aimed to:
- Compare wound healing after hot-iron disbudding with two commercially available irons: the Rhinehart X50A electric disbudder fitted with a 15-mm tip (Rhinehart Development Corp., Spencerville, IN) and the Portasol Dehorner III gas disbudder fitted with a 17-mm tip (Portasol USA, Elmira, OR)
- Determine whether disbudding wounds healed differently on the left versus the right side of the head
Subjects:
Ten female Holstein calves were enrolled consecutively as they were born at the University of California Davis Dairy Facility between November 14, 2016, and February 19, 2017. Calves were disbudded at 4 to 10 d of age (mean body weight ± SD: 41 ± 2 kg).
Disbudding procedure:
Each calf was disbudded using the Rhinehart X50A on one horn bud and the Portasol Dehorner III on the other; the side (left vs. right) assigned to each iron was alternated and balanced between calves. On the day of disbudding, each calf was restrained in a head device in the home pen and received a cornual nerve block of 5 mL of 2% lidocaine hydrochloride on each side (an additional 2 mL was given if the block was incomplete after 10 min). Each iron was applied to the respective horn bud until a copper ring formed (mean iron temperature ± SD: Rhinehart 433 ± 23 °C, Portasol 436 ± 28 °C; mean duration of application per bud ± SD: Rhinehart 20 ± 5 s, Portasol 10 ± 3 s). The cauterized horn bud was not removed. Meloxicam was administered orally at 1 mg/kg body weight (in 7.5 mg tablets) immediately after disbudding.
Data collection:
Data were collected at the University of California Davis Dairy Facility from November 2016 to May 2017. Wounds were scored daily by one of five trained observers (inter-observer reliability: Cohen's κ ≥ 0.70) for the presence or absence of six tissue types: attached necrotic tissue, detached necrotic tissue, exudate, granulation tissue, crust, and new epithelium. Digital photographs of each wound were taken every Monday and Thursday with a DSLR camera (D5300; Nikon Corp., Tokyo, Japan) at a fixed distance of 15 cm, with a measuring tape included in the frame. Wound size (diameter, mm) was measured from these photographs by a single primary observer. Wound surface temperature was measured twice weekly using a thermal camera (first 5 calves: RAZ-IR Nano, Sierra Pacific Innovations, Las Vegas, NV; last 5 calves: FLIR T430, FLIR Systems Inc., Wilsonville, OR). Data collection continued until each wound had re-epithelialized (mean ± SD: Portasol 53 ± 3 d, Rhinehart 55 ± 3 d; range: 40–70 d). One calf was euthanized at 46 d after disbudding due to digestive illness, at which point the necrotic tissue had detached but neither wound had re-epithelialized; latency variables for this calf are absent.
All procedures were approved by the University of California Davis Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol no. 19204).
🔗 Related Datasets
In the paper, the present dataset corresponds to Experiment A. The paper also reports analyses of laterality effects in wound healing from two additional disbudding studies (labeled Experiment B and Experiment C in the paper). Data from those studies are available on Dryad:
Experiment B — The effect of disbudding age on healing and pain sensitivity in dairy calves (Adcock and Tucker, 2018, J. Dairy Sci. 101:10361–10373): 48 female dairy calves (Holstein and Jersey) disbudded or sham-disbudded at 3 or 35 d of age using a Rhinehart X50 iron.
Experiment C — Sensitivity and wound healing after hot-iron disbudding in goat kids (Alvarez et al., 2019, J. Dairy Sci. 102:10152–10162): 18 female dairy kids disbudded at 10 d of age using a Rhinehart X30 iron.
📁 Files and Descriptions
Disbudding_Irons_2016-2017_Dryad.xlsx
- Description: Excel file containing wound tissue scores (summarized as latency and count variables), wound size, infrared thermography temperatures, girth circumference, body weight, and disbudding procedure details. Each row represents one twice-weekly wound assessment visit for a specific horn bud on a specific date.
- Data are contained in the "Data" sheet" and metadata are defined in the "Data Dictionary" sheet.
- Dimensions: 358 rows × 31 columns (excluding header row)
- Missing value code: #N/A
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
Calf |
Animal ID (ear tag number) |
Side |
Horn bud side (L = left, R = right) |
Iron |
Disbudding iron applied to this horn bud (Rhinehart = Rhinehart X50A electric iron; Portasol = Portasol Dehorner III propane iron) |
DOB |
Date of birth (yyyy-mm-dd) |
Dam_ID |
Dam identification number |
Date_disbudded |
Date of disbudding procedure (yyyy-mm-dd) |
Time_disbudded |
Time of disbudding procedure (HH:MM:SS, 24-hour clock) |
First_side |
Horn bud side disbudded first (Left or Right) |
Rhinehart_temp_C |
Tip temperature of the Rhinehart X50A iron at time of disbudding (degrees C) |
Portasol_temp_C |
Tip temperature of the Portasol Dehorner III iron at time of disbudding (degrees C) |
Ambient_temp_C |
Ambient temperature at time of disbudding (degrees C) |
Disbudding_duration_s |
Duration of iron application for this horn bud (s) |
Lidocaine_left_mL |
Volume of lidocaine administered for the left cornual nerve block (mL) |
Lidocaine_right_mL |
Volume of lidocaine administered for the right cornual nerve block (mL) |
Meloxicam_tablets |
Number of 7.5 mg meloxicam tablets administered orally at time of disbudding (dose: 1 mg/kg body weight) |
Weight_disbudded_kg |
Body weight at disbudding measured by scale (kg) |
Girth_disbudded_cm |
Heart girth at disbudding measured by weight tape (cm) |
Test_date |
Date of twice-weekly wound assessment visit (yyyy-mm-dd) |
Days_disbudded |
Number of days since disbudding at time of wound assessment |
Girth_cm |
Heart girth measured by weight tape at wound assessment visit (cm) |
Wound_size_mm |
Wound diameter measured from digital photographs by the primary observer (mm); mean of three measurements per image |
Avg_temp_C |
Average wound surface temperature extracted from thermal image (degrees C) |
Min_temp_C |
Minimum wound surface temperature extracted from thermal image (degrees C) |
Max_temp_C |
Maximum wound surface temperature extracted from thermal image (degrees C) |
Thermal_camera |
Thermal camera model used (RAZIR = RAZ-IR Nano, first 5 calves; FLIR = FLIR T430, last 5 calves) |
Latency_peel_d |
Days from disbudding until necrotic tissue began to peel from the wound |
Latency_detach_d |
Days from disbudding until necrotic tissue fully detached from the wound |
Days_exudate |
Number of wound assessment days on which exudate was present |
Days_granulation |
Number of wound assessment days on which granulation tissue was present |
Days_crust |
Number of wound assessment days on which crust was present |
Latency_heal_d |
Days from disbudding until wound was fully re-epithelialized; absent for the calf euthanized at d 46 |