Real-time and video-recorded cattle pain assessment: clinical application and reliability

Bovine pain assessment relies on validated behavioral scales related to normal and pain-related behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the reliability and applicability of real-time and video-recorded cattle pain assessment, and to compare its agreement. Ten Nelore and Nine Angus bulls underwent general anesthesia and surgical castration. Three-minute real-time observations and simultaneous videos were recorded at -48 h (M0), preoperative (M1), after surgery (M2), after rescue analgesia and at 24 h (M4). Animals received morphine, dipyrone and flunixin meglumine after surgical castration. Two trained evaluators assessed real-time (n = 95) and video-recorded time-points (n = 95) using the Unesp-Botucatu Cattle Pain Scale (UCAPS). Both assessment methods inferred ‘very good’ reliability (≥ 0.81) with minimal bias, however, video-recorded assessment (4.33 ± 2.84) demonstrated slightly higher scores compared to real-time (3.08 ± 2.84). The results from this study suggest the UCAPS can be used in both real-time and video-recorded to assess pain and guide analgesic therapy in cattle.