@conference {40899,
	title = {Measures of stress and growth suppression in surgically castrated bulls},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {57},
	year = {1997},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {100-104},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {The effects of surgical castration of pre- and post-pubertal bulls on measures of stress and growth were investigated in two separate experiments. In Experiment 1, 17-month-old Friesian bulls (n = 6 per treatment) were either left untreated (Controls), handled and administered local anaesthetic (Handled), or handled, administered local anaesthetic and surgically castrated (Castrates). In Experiment 2, 5-month-old Friesian bulls (n = 10 per treatment) were either left untreated (Controls) or surgically castrated without local anaesthetic (Castrates). Castrates in Experiment 1 had higher (P<0.05) plasma cortisol concentrations 7 and 14 days after treatment compared with Handled bulls and lower (P<0.01) gains in body weight for 14 days compared with Controls. There were no effects of treatment on plasma non-esterified fatty acid, b-hydroxybutyrate and urea concentrations. Castrates in Experiment 2 had higher (P<0.05) plasma concentrations of cortisol and the inflammatory protein haptoglobin for 7 days after treatment compared with Controls. The feed intake and weight gain of Castrates were also lower (P<0.05) than that of Controls during the week following treatment. It is concluded that the castration of cattle causes stress, resulting in a check in growth which is possibly mediated via a reduction in feed intake. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Carragher JF and Knight TW and Death AF and Ingram JR and Matthews LR}
}
