13 Jun 2025
Perception of what vets think farmers are willing to pay for NSAID relief differs from reality, delegates hear.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Speakers at Ceva's "Break the Pain Conference and Round Table".
Calls have been made for better communication on use of pain relief in dairy cows after conference delegates discussed a disconnect between vets and farmers on the issue.
With research showing vets and farmers are under-using NSAIDs, attendees of the second “Break the Pain Conference and Round Table” said vets often had perceptions about what they thought farmers would pay for NSAID treatment and what they actually would pay.
Data suggests just half of farmers are using NSAIDs for conditions including active digital dermatitis, with farmers more likely to score pain lower than their vets, foot trimmers and vet technicians.
The Ceva Animal Health session in Lancashire highlighted that more could be done to increase collaboration among the whole on-farm mobility team to assess pain and make choices on NSAIDs consistent to improve the identification and treatment of dairy cow lameness.
It was suggested vets could revise the terminology they use when speaking to farmers on pain relief subjects, and provide analogies to human medicine, where they are extensively used.
Katherine Timms, ruminant veterinary advisor at Ceva, said: “NSAIDs are an essential part of a treatment protocol when it comes to the management of pain, fever and inflammation in cattle for a plethora of painful conditions and cost isn’t an issue among farmers, with productivity gains proven to be larger than the cost of treatment.
“Vets should be leading discussions and questioning the benefits to individual animals and whether it’s the the ‘right thing to do’ with the goal of providing gold standard care for the long-term health and welfare of the national herd.”
The conference featured leading speakers from practice and vet schools, who presented ahead of a round table discussion chaired by Nick Bell, director of Herd Health Consultancy.
Attendee Paul Doran, veterinary surgeon at Friars Moor Livestock Health, said: “It was interesting to hear from the great panel of speakers about recent research into the benefits of NSAID use and to explore current thinking on the subject a little more deeply.
“I enjoyed engaging with the roundtable discussion led by Nick Bell and found it really thought provoking to discuss the barriers and challenges we face to promoting NSAID use in our role as vets.”
Bell N and Vanhoudt A (2020). Treatment and control of DD in dairy cattle, In Practice 42(10): 554-567.
Craven E, Stavisky J, Robinson N and Dean R (2024). How do different members of the on-farm mobility team perceive lameness, and what factors influence their NSAID use? Vet Record 194(5): e3412.
