Histogram of time spent by lambs (5 days of age) in a head down (sleeping) posture in the 90 minutes after decreasing severities of rubber ring castration and tail docking.

Molony et al (2002)

CTD - Bilateral castration and tail docking

C2   - Bilateral castration

C1   - Unilateral castration

C0   - Short scrotum castration

LA   - Short scrotum castration plus local anaesthetic

 H    - Handled control lambs

TD   - Tail docked only

Letters above the columns indicate treatment values that are significantly different from each other.  Different letters indicate significantly (P < 0.05) different values.

In the first 90 minutes after treatment the following times were spent lying with the head down (in a sleeping type posture) for each treatment group:- Castration and tail docking 25 min, bilateral castration 17 min, unilateral castration 18 min, none of which were significantly different from each other. Short scrotum castration without local anaesthetic spent 12 min with the head down, and with local anaesthetic 10 min with head down.  These values compare with 8 min  or less for handled and tail docked only lambs.  There was no significant difference in the time spent in a sleeping posture between handled lambs and those only castrated by different methods.