A Sarina beef producer is maximising pain relief within his herd to achieve the farming trifecta of prioritised animal welfare, process efficiencies and valuing adding to his operation through a return on investment.
Stewart Borg, along with wife Sarah and their children, own and operate a 1400 head commercial grey Brahman breeder herd across their 3000ha Marklands Station property.
The family also run between 2000 to 3000 head of trade cattle depending on the season.
"We have 400 Brahman females in the stud and in the commercial operation we run a Brahman base cow herd and use a combination of Brahman and European bulls," Mr Borg said.
Mr Borg said prioritised animal welfare and process efficiencies were key within his operation and utilised pain relief practices in his calf marking, dehorning and castrating processes.
"Animal welfare is a top priority," he said.
"I do believe that comfortable cattle are productive cattle, and any set back influences our bottom line".
Mr Borg said he began using topical livestock pain relief product Tri-Solfen after a trial and error process with other similar products on the market.
"We weren't happy with the results we were getting from other products," he said.
"We use the product on our baby calves in the marking process.
"We also still have a fair portion of horned cattle coming through, so we use it for dehorning and also for castration."
The beef producer said the pain relief practice had improved his operational processes and value added to his enterprise.
"It's hard to put a number on actual added weight gain, but the most noticeable improvement is in the time of calves are back suckling cows after processing," Mr Borg said.
"That distress factor on the calves is limited and if the calves aren't stressed, they're back suckling, which means they're back on their mother's milk, they're going to heal quicker and put on weight sooner.
"That's got an added value straight away and we also get fewer infections, if any, which is a value add in itself."
Mr Borg said the timing of application was important.
"We seasonal mate here, which makes life a lot easier because we've only got to do one round of branding, but we try and have everything processed prior to Christmas before the wet season starts," he said.
"Which means we're processing everything at an early age because the later they're processed, the more the impact and longer the recovery period."
As the spotlight is shone on producers Mr Borg believed animal welfare frameworks were key.
"The next best thing is basically to edge toward being carbon positive and leading animal welfare practices," he said.
Mr Borg said consumers were also taking note of how their food was being produced.
"It is important to connect with consumers and show that the products we present are ethically produced and sustainable," he said.
"In time our social licence to operate is going to get more and more critical.
Zoe Thomas
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
