Effect of Anesthesia on Welfare Aspects of Hair Sheep (Ovis aries) During Electro-Ejaculation

Abstract

Animal welfare concern has been expressed regarding the use of Electro-Ejaculation (EE) as a semen collection technique. In the present experiment, the effect of anesthesia on measures of welfare of hair sheep (Ovis aries) during EE was evaluate. Twenty intact F1 Dorper/St. Croix rams aged 12-13 months were randomly assigned to one of 2 groups: Controls (T(0)) and animals receiving im injection of xylazine and ketamine (T(1)). All animals were electro-ejaculated once. Changes in cortisol concentration, Heart (HR) and Respiratory Rate (RR) were used to quantify the stress response to EE. A peak of >200 beats min(-1) was observed at the time of EE in both groups. Anesthetized rams in T(1) returned to their basal heart rate within 4 min after this peak, while the heart rate of rams in the T(0) group remained relatively high 30 min after EE. Serum cortisol levels were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the T(0) group than in the T(1) rams 20 min after EE (161.57 +/- 14.37 and 110.60 +/- 11.74 ng mL(-1) in T(0) and T(1), respectively). No differences in the respiratory rate variable (p>0.05) were observed between or within groups. It was concluded that anesthetic treatment during EE improved 2 of 3 measures of welfare (heart rate and cortisol concentration). These findings provide support for the use of anaesthetics when collecting semen in hair sheep by EE.

Keywords

Hair sheep; welfare; electro-ejaculation; cortisol; heart rate; anesthetic

Published in

Journal Of Animal And Veterinary Advances
2009, Volume: 8, number: 2, pages: 305-308

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/86363