28 Oct 2024
Developers of FerAppease said the substance was “very well received” during the BCVA event.
Vet Times
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UK farm vets have been given their first glimpse of a cattle stress relief product whose makers claim it can improve both yields and welfare outcomes.
Millions of FerAppease doses have already been sold internationally and producers from Argentina to New Zealand are expected to be able to access it soon.
The product, which uses a synthetic analogue of the maternal bovine appeasing substance, was given its UK launch at the BCVA Congress in Newport.
Officials say the substance can be applied before any major change in an animal’s circumstances and its effects can be felt for up to 14 days afterwards.
Other tests have indicated animals that have the product applied to them gain more weight and produce more milk than those that do not, while levels of stress management hormone cortisol were estimated to be around 70 times lower at slaughter in animals that had received the substance.
Elsewhere, research in the United States, where around 15 million doses of the product have been sold over the past two years alone, also indicated it had helped to reduce bovine respiratory disease mortality rates by as much as 83%.
Clayton Pereira, a vet and international sales manager for Fera Diagnostics and Biologicals – the Texas-based firm that developed the substance – said: “If you are under stress, you are more sensitive to disease.
“If animals are more comfortable and feel less stressed, they will perform better and that reflects their welfare.”
Beef health consultant Alfonso Camassa, who has worked with the company on the product, said the benefits also extend to a reduced risk of injury to both animals and handlers.
He added: “The welfare is the main subject here. If there is improved welfare, we obviously improve performances.”
Although farmers can apply the product to their animals themselves, it can only be obtained through vets and the company has indicated it is keen to work with clinicians to help spread its message to producers.
The substance recently went on the market in Brazil, where it is estimated to have sold around two million doses in its first two months, while it is also set to be launched in countries such as Argentina and New Zealand soon.
More information is available on the FerAppease website.
