Bijkerk H J C, Nielen M, van Geijlswijk I M, Vernooij J C M, Jorritsma R
Sustainable Ruminant Health Group, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Farm Animal Health Division, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 Apr 7;12:1445605. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1445605. eCollection 2025.
Calves are routinely disbudded with hot iron disbudders in Netherlands. Disbudding wounds are frequently treated with antimicrobial wound spray with the aim of preventing infection and improving wound healing. Given the policy for the prudent use of antimicrobials, we decided to evaluate the effect of antimicrobial wound spray vs. non-antimicrobial wound spray after disbudding in a commercial setting. In this field trial, we treated 255 calves after disbudding with chlortetracycline (CTC) spray and Keno™Fix (KF) on alternating the left and right horn buds. At 1 week and 4 weeks after disbudding, we measured the healing rate (HR) in mm/week and the lesion score (LS) of the wounds. The field conditions on farms were also monitored and investigated for an effect on HR and LS. The HR of KF wounds was numerically lower than CTC wounds but did not pass the non-inferiority threshold of 0.5 mm/week. Lesion scores were worse for KF-treated wounds than for CTC-treated wounds. For both CTC and KF wounds, we found that a worse lesion score was associated with a lower HR. We found that lesion scores were worse for KF-treated wounds and calculated that five calves need to be treated with CTC to prevent one calf from developing an inferior wound score. Since the HR of KF was lower, though not inferior to CTC-treated wounds, we conclude that in certain circumstances, the use of an antibiotic spray after cautery disbudding of calves may not be necessary.
在荷兰，通常使用热烙铁给小牛去角。去角伤口经常用抗菌伤口喷雾剂进行处理，目的是预防感染并促进伤口愈合。鉴于谨慎使用抗菌药物的政策，我们决定在商业环境中评估去角后使用抗菌伤口喷雾剂与非抗菌伤口喷雾剂的效果。在这项田间试验中，我们在小牛去角后，交替使用金霉素（CTC）喷雾剂和Keno™Fix（KF）对255头小牛的左右角芽进行处理。在去角后1周和4周，我们测量了以毫米/周为单位的愈合率（HR）和伤口的病变评分（LS）。还对农场的田间条件进行了监测和调查，以研究其对HR和LS的影响。KF伤口的HR在数值上低于CTC伤口，但未达到0.5毫米/周的非劣效性阈值。KF处理的伤口的病变评分比CTC处理的伤口更差。对于CTC和KF伤口，我们发现病变评分越差，HR越低。我们发现KF处理的伤口的病变评分更差，并计算出需要用CTC处理5头小牛才能防止1头小牛出现较差的伤口评分。由于KF的HR较低，虽然不劣于CTC处理的伤口，但我们得出结论，在某些情况下，小牛烙灼去角后使用抗生素喷雾剂可能没有必要。
