Pain Relief at Marking | Why Injectable Pain Relief is Your Best Bet

Pain relief at lamb marking is now a staple of good animal husbandry and welfare.

For sustained pain relief post marking, meloxicam is the anti-inflammatory of choice with three different formulations now available - a trans-bucal gel (Buccalgesic), an oral gel (Butec OTM) and a number of brands of injectables.

The research is really clear on the subject of pain relief at marking - MLA studies have shown up to a 60 % reduction in post marking mortality and a 7 times reduction in abnormal pain-associated behaviours such as lying down and a more rapid return to normal feeding behaviour.

While the scientific literature clearly shows all three routes (trans-buccal, oral or injectable) are just as effective for controlling pain associated with marking, there are clear advantages of using an injectable over the oral formulations.

Trans-buccal oral gel requires the operator to cleanly hook the applicator into the cheek pouch. If it’s not administered correctly and is swallowed, its ineffective. Oral gels, while designed to be swallowed suffer the same problem as trans-buccal gels with lambs spitting part or most of the dose out.

With a subcutaneous injection, once its injected, you know with certainty the lamb has received the correct dose - it doesn’t leak out either.

The second advantage is speed - its quicker to inject than drench.

Combining an injectable meloxicam with immediate pain relief such as NumbNuts is the gold standard for pain relief at marking - NumbNuts provides the immediate pain relief that lasts for several hours, and the injectable containing meloxicam at 20 mg/ml provides the ongoing pain relief for the next 3 days.

Contact our Livestock & Equine Centre team to speak with one of our vets and organise your pain relief ahead of marking.