BEING an international supplier and distributor of animal health products in Australia, Bayer HealthCare Animal Health projected a major presence at the World Buiatrics Conference (WBC) at the Cairns Convention Centre last week.
Global Communications Manager for Bayer HealthCare Animal Health, Janice Chow told the North Queensland that the Animal Health division is not only ‘leading the field’ in animal health in Australia but is the now No-5 in the world. The company has always had and continues to have a huge focus on the health of cattle.
Bayer, as always, has a large number of ongoing projects dedicated to finding solutions to animal health problems. Solutions that not only improve existing methods of treatment but also lead to the discovery of new technology and approaches to problems.
“We work closely with veterinarians and farmers, and we value their feedback as it assists us to meet their needs better,” Ms Chow said.
She said that Bayer HealthCare Animal Health continues to have a strong focus on research, education and in providing veterinarians and farmers with innovative products and solutions that would help them to look after their animals better.
At this conference Bayer HealthCare Animal Health unveiled a new App called BCS Cowdition, that the company developed which allows the farmer to measure the body condition score of dairy cows. After the App is downloaded the farmer takes a photo of the cow with his/her smart phone and the App program will guide the farmer through a series of steps that will result in a body condition score in as little as 30 seconds.
Previously the farmer had to use a photo of another cow already scored and do a series of visual comparisons which were not necessarily accurate. The App is free and is, at present, available for androids. It will soon be available for the I-phone.
The App will be upgraded to allow a record of the body score to be downloaded to any database and can be accessed via a scan of the cow’s ear tag. The App will also have a feature to prompt the farmer when the body score needs to be carried out.
Ms Chow said that it will greatly assist in herd management and field officers will be visiting farms to explain the App to farmers.
As an example of the globalisation of Bayer, the App will be available in seven languages.
“The health of animals is important to us as webelieve that healthy animals make the world a better place,” Ms Chow said.
Andrew Mason is the Country Division Head Australia for Bayer HealthCare Animal Health and has been with the company for the past ten years. Andrew believes Bayer is a true research and development company with great emphasis on research.
“Bayer has always strived for a better life for animals and here in Australia we have been instrumental development of many cutting-edge, animal health products directed at improving the health of animals,” Mr Mason said.
As an example of this he quoted Baticol, Advantage, Drontal, Tiguvon and Zap as just a few which were invented in Bayer’s Australian laboratories and exported throughout the world. He believes the development of so many animal health products are in many ways the result of the entrepreneurial spirit in Australia.
Another product Bayer developed in Australia and released last week is Piranha to be used for the control of sheep lice as an off-shear treatment. Piranha can be used as a cage or plunge dip and is a follow-up to Australia’s leading pour-on, sheep lousicide, Avenge.
“This product is just another example of Bayer continuing to be on the front line of the war against animal pests and diseases,” Mr Mason said.