When you observe a mama cow soothe an upset calf – taking it from bawling to calmly nursing in nearly an instant – you’ve just witnessed a naturally produced pheromone, called maternal bovine appeasing substance (MBAS), at work.
The pheromone, which is secreted through the skin of the mammary gland of lactating cows, is now available as a synthetic analog in the U.S., called FerAppease, for use in cattle experiencing stress from routine practices that are part and parcel in beef and dairy production.
Developed and marketed by FERA Diagnostics & Biologicals, FerAppease has been researched and evaluated by animal health scientists across a variety of production practices for the past decade.
“The maternal bovine appeasing substance is something that I’ve been investigating for nearly 10 years now, and the results are always consistently positive,” reports Reinaldo F. Cooke, DVM, PhD, endowed professor of beef cattle production at Texas A & M University.
FerAppease is designed to be topically administered to the nuchal skin (poll) and the skin above the muzzle. The product is locally assimilated by the vomeronasal organ located in the nasal cavity and is effective for 14 days.
“When the animal smells the bovine appeasing substance, the vomeronasal organ picks up that stimulus and translates into the brain as an appeasing, calming effect. It basically alleviates perception of the stress by the calf’s brain,” Cooke told Dr. Dan Thomson, Production Animal Consultation veterinarian and host of DocTalk, during a recent podcast.
Health Outcomes In Dairy And Beef Animals
In beef animals, Cooke has evaluated the product in a variety of production stages: at weaning in cow/calf herds, in calves being placed in feedyards and in finished cattle being shipped to a packing plant.
He also has conducted one study on the use of the technology in dairy calves ready for weaning1. The dairy study was conducted on a commercial dairy in New York to evaluate health outcomes in treated vs. untreated Holstein calves. Application of the MBAS decreased the incidence of diarrhea (71% in controls and 59% in treated calves) and decreased mortality (7.8% in controls and 2.4% in treated calves).
An overview of the dairy study results is available in the American Association of Bovine Practitioner (AABP) The Bovine Practitioner. Cooke also addressed the study in Episode 184 of the AABP podcast Have You Herd? Listen to it here: AABP PodCasts - Effect of Maternal Bovine Appeasing Substance
More Than 10 Studies Conducted In Beef Cattle
For beef cattle, Cooke and his colleagues have authored articles from more than 10 published studies demonstrating the performance of FerAppease. One of the latest Texas A&M University peer-reviewed studies published in the August 2024 Journal of Animal Science2.
Results from this study showed that administrating FerAppease resulted in decreased physiological stress markers in beef cattle. Compared to the control group, cattle receiving FerAppease had lower serum cortisol concentrations after castration and lower hair cortisol concentrations during the initial 28 days on feed.
“An increase in cortisol levels is the key negative physiological driver resulting from stress that impacts cattle appetite, health and weight gain,” Cooke says.
Specific to health benefits from administering FerAppease, the study results demonstrated improved immuno-competence with higher serum antibody concentrations against Parainfluenza 3 upon initial and booster vaccinations, according to a FERA news release.
Overall improved health response and better recovery from Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) were also observed in this study for FerAppease-treated beef cattle. A higher portion of cattle administered the technology required only a single antibiotic treatment to recover to positive health after BRD diagnosis compared to the control group. Mortality rates due to BRD were 83% lower in cattle treated with the product compared to the control group.
Multiple, Practical Uses With Positive ROI
As Cooke has considered where the technology fits within livestock production, he says his first thought was for calves at weaning, “especially because the calf takes about two weeks to recover from the separation from the cow,” he says.
“Then my next focus was on high-risk receiving cattle, because of all the stresses associated with the feedlot receiving. Reimplant is also another time point where we can address the stress of processing cattle. And the last period that I suggest is right before they go to the packing plant to address the stress of loading, transport, arrival, and waiting at the packing plant, which can translate into more carcass dressing,” Cooke told Thomson during the DocTalk podcast. Watch it here:
DocTalk Ep 634 - Bovine Appeasing Substance (FerAppease)
Cooke adds that the study published in the August 2024 Journal of Animal Science showed that by alleviating stress related to the process of shipping cattle to the packing plant, there was an increase of 1.5 percentile points in carcass dressing, roughly an additional 14 pounds of carcass.
“That’s $3 a pound of carcass today, so an additional $30 to $50 per head, which is significant” Thomson estimates.
Cooke adds that the economic analysis for use of FerAppease, depending on the production stage for use, offers producers a return on investment between 20:1 to 30:1.
Rodrigo Bicalho, CEO FERA Diagnostics & Biologicals, says A FerAppease treatment retails for about $3 per head for adult cattle and $1.50 per head for calves.
FerAppease use doesn’t require a veterinarian’s prescription or a Veterinary Feed Directive plan, and there are no meat withholding requirements. For more information and study data, visit www.FERAah.com.
References:1Bringhenti, L., Colombo, E., Rodrigues, M., and Cooke, R. Effect of maternal bovine appeasing substance on health and performance of preweaned dairy calves. The Bovine Practitioner, Volume 57, No. 2, 2023. Available at: https://bovine-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/bovine/article/view/8772.
2Pickett, A., Cooke, R. de Souza, I., Kertz, N., and Mackey, S. Administering the maternal bovine appeasing substance improves overall productivity and health in high-risk cattle during a 60-d feedlot receiving period Journal of Animal Science. Manuscript ID for Peer Review: JAS-2024-8536.
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