A new oral pain relief product developed in conjunction with the CSIRO is set to give primary producers more options when it comes to improving animal welfare outcomes.
Australian owned Troy Animal Healthcare has today launched the long acting product, Butec.
It joins at least four other pain mitigation products already on the market; NumOcaine, Tri-Solfen, Buccalgesic and Metacam 20.
Aimed at relieving secondary, inflammatory pain, Butec takes over when short term pain relief such as local anaesthetic wears off.
Research has shown one application provides pain relieving benefits for up to 48 hours in lambs and 72 hours in cattle.
Developed in collaboration with the CSIRO, Meat & Livestock Australia and Australian Wool Innovation, Butec is designed for all calf and lamb marking procedures.
CSIRO principal research scientist Dr Alison Small said the product has been proven to get lambs and calves back to mothering, feeding and sleeping faster thereby reducing stress.
"The amount of time spent grazing by lambs given Butec was extremely improved, especially in the second half of the day, while those not receiving it were still unhappy and unable to graze" Dr Small said.
"The CSIRO also conducted numerous tests during development that repeatedly showed lambs and calves given Butec were able to maintain normal behaviours after anaesthetics wore off while those not receiving it were unhappy and acted abnormally."
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Butec has been proven in vet channels over many years and has recently been made available for producers to buy from local farm supplies stores, making access to the product far simpler.
Application of Butec is recommended around 15 minutes prior to animal husbandry procedures.
"The product is applied with a hooked applicator gun specific to either lambs or calves," said Troy Animal Healthcare CEO Nicolas Shortis.
"The dosage is quite small, around 2mls for lambs for example.
"It is not a drench to the stomach but is a gel applied to the mucosal membranes in the animal's mouth for quick absorption.
"Ideally it is used in conjunction with short term pain relief."
Studies showed a seven-fold reduction in pain related behaviours in Merino lambs in the first eight hours post knife castration and hot iron-tail docking.
Butec treated lambs showed less time was spent in standing postures and more time grazing, feeding from their mothers and in normal lying postures, compared to placebo treated lambs.
Merino wool grower, Chris Croker, from Golspie in NSW, also confirmed positive outcomes from using Butec.
"Lamb marking is essential for the health and wellbeing of our sheep and Butec destresses the process for our workers and the flock," he said.
