Intra-lingual suture pattern for prevention of self-suckling in cows

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate a new less-invasive surgical technique for prevention of self-suckling in dairy cows. A pre-clinical (experimental study) was conducted on three goats to detect the possible complications of the technique and the lingual pathological changes. The main clinical study was carried out on 37 dairy cows of mixed breeds, suffered from self-suckling, with a follow up period of six months. No serious complications were observed in the experimental study and histopathological evaluation revealed a well-formed neither caseated nor necrotizing granulomatous tissue reaction in the form of granulation tissue around the suture material which was surrounded by a dense wall of fibrous connective tissue admixed by inflammatory lymphocytic infiltration. The clinical study proved the simplicity and the less-invasive nature of the technique, and its ability to solve the problem. Animal behavior changed over three weeks, post surgically, in the form of non-productive trials of self-suckling to satisfy their suckling motivation that waned as a result of lacking of self-suckling opportunity by surgery. Moreover, the technique was more widely acceptable by the owners than the other traditional invasive methods. The technique is recommended to be used due to its advantages, absence of serious complications, and high success rate. Keywords: Intra-lingual, Self-Suckling, Cows, Goats