{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T13:33:58Z","timestamp":1786628038598,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786579200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004829","name":"Science & Technology Department of Sichuan Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024YFNH0026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024YFNH0026"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004829","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["2024YFNH0026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024YFNH0026"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04323m874","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Whether vocalisations during disbudding predict later outcomes in goat kids is unknown. In this preliminary study, we allocated 18 female Tianfu goat kids to disbudding (n = 9) or sham (n = 9). Disbudding used a hot iron without analgesia; sham kids received an unheated iron. Vocalisations, tail flicks, and struggles were recorded. Fundamental frequency (F0) and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) were extracted. Body weight and temperament were assessed at 90 days post-procedure; home-pen behaviour was scan-sampled at 60 and 90 days post-procedure. Two kids were excluded due to insufficient recordings, leaving 16 (9 disbudded, 7 sham). Disbudded kids vocalised more frequently (14.5 vs. 8.1 calls\/min, p = 0.0007) and had lower minimum F0 (283.4 vs. 366.1 Hz, p = 0.020), with significant MFCC shifts. Several acoustic features correlated with body weight at 90 days post-procedure (mfcc_12_std: r = 0.903, p = 0.001) and temperament (mfcc_2_mean: r = \u22120.788, p = 0.012) after controlling for disbudding weight. The first principal component of acoustic features (PC1) correlated with lower body weight at 90 days post-procedure in disbudded kids (r = \u22120.786, p = 0.036), but not in shams (r = \u22120.257, p = 0.623). No subgroup differences were found in home-pen behaviours. These findings indicate that acute pain vocalisations may reflect individual stress reactivity\u2014a possible \u2018vocal phenotype\u2019\u2014and, with validation, could inform non-invasive screening for at-risk kids.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16162530","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T12:47:11Z","timestamp":1786625231000},"page":"2530","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Acoustic Features of Pain-Induced Vocalisations Are Associated with Subsequent Growth and Temperament Following Thermal Disbudding in Goat Kids: A Preliminary Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-6314-6486","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhengyu","family":"Fu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yiming","family":"Gong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-1184-0570","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wenyue","family":"Hou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2459-3499","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Li","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8290-7041","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hongping","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physbeh.2014.10.026","article-title":"Cortisol and pain-related behavior in disbudded goat kids with and without cornual nerve block","volume":"138","author":"Alvarez","year":"2015","journal-title":"Physiol. 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