Wellbeing company Medical Ethics and animal nutrition provider 4 Season Company are working together to develop the technology that has the potential to deliver a range of pain mitigation therapies for livestock. These include pain relief for routine surgical procedures such as castration, disbudding, and to assist in the recovery from other painful ailments such as hoof abscesses.
The announcement comes after Bayer through its Care4Cattle initiative awarded one of its three global grants to Dr Dominique van der Saag and the Sydney University Veterinarian Science Faculty to assess the suitability of the technology.
Medical Ethics managing director Allan Giffard said the technology also had the potential to help reduce pain and stress to cows during calving.
“The awarding of the prestigious Bayer grant to our research partners Sydney University indicates the enormous potential the technology has to improve animal wellbeing outcomes globally,” Mr Giffard said.
Currently there are no products providing pain relief in a simple, accessible form for animals to self-medicate.
“Currently there are no products providing pain relief in a simple, accessible form for animals to self-medicate. The combination of the Tri-Solfen technology and the introduction of the pain mitigated infused feed supplement has the potential to provide a practical, cost efficient and highly effective pain mitigation combination.
“This latest initiative is an important addition to our growing research and development pipeline.”
Cate McPherson from Bayer said the company was thrilled that Dr van der Saag has been awarded a Care4Cattle grant for this innovation in advancing the well-being of cattle.
“Coming in the wake of the recent approval of Tri-Solfen for the new claim in disbudding and dehorning in calves, this grant underlines Bayer’s commitment to support ethical and sustainable practices in Australia’s animal industries,” Ms McPherson said.
In May, Medical Ethics announced it was investing $5.3 million in researching the use of its Tri-Solfen for treatment of wounds in humans. Since commercialisation, Tri-Solfen has treated more than 80 million farm animals in Australia.