Buffalo fly product considered kinder to the environment and more efficient

For the past seven years, Mr Bradshaw has been working on an application to control buffalo fly in cattle that is kind to the environment, efficient and long lasting.

Only recently, he patented the rights to his invention, Bradshaw Rub Block (BRB), and is now at the stage where he is looking for funding to commercialise it.

Mr Bradshaw said the reason for developing the product came as a result of years of working as a project and construction manager for oil and gas companies where staff cannot spill a drop of any harmful chemical on the ground without reporting it.

He said he would come home from working away to his farm at Malanda on the Atherton Tablelands where as a farmer he could mix up toxic Class 6 chemicals, spray the chemical on the cattle to treat buffalo fly and watch it run off on to the ground and possibly into the waterways.

"And I felt very conflicted that this was just not right. I used to say to my wife that if this remotely happened in my workplace I would be run off the job so I set about coming up with a product that was far more environmentally sound to transfer the chemical to the animal and that's how it came about," he said.

Mr Bradshaw said he also got a lot of rain at Malanda which in turn led to a lot of buffalo fly breeding in the wet manure.

"So when I was home on my two weeks off I would be forever yarding cattle to treat them for fly... and again I said to my wife 'this just isn't sustainable'," he said.

"But there was just nothing on the market that I could put out in the paddock, that I could hang up that I would call 'a set and forget' product.

"So for environmental reasons, and longevity and efficiency reasons, I developed this product."

Mr Bradshaw explained his set up involved a self applicating system where cattle walk underneath the back rubber which transfers a wax based chemical impregnated product on to the animal which kills the fly.

He said BRB "did not drip a single drop of chemical on the ground" and lasted about three months compared to other products which lasted only three weeks.

"I invented the product and have been trialling it on our property under a permit from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority so we've proved the product so we could invest further to obtain the patent rights," he said.

"I then proved the concept a couple of years ago and it worked an absolute treat and we've ended up patenting it."

Mr Bradshaw said if cattle want to go from one paddock to the next on his property they had to walk underneath the back rub product

"I've got six of those blocks hanging up and as the cattle walk underneath them, as it's quite an oily sticky rub block, ... it transfers a little bit of the product to the animal and when the fly touches the animal it kills the fly," he said.

"They are more at risk of under applying (than over applying), but over the years we had to come up with a blend that would transfer .07 to .09 of a gram of pure ingredient chemical (diazinon) to the animal with each pass and that was the challenge to get a wax and oil blend that was just right to knock down the fly."

But, after adjusting the mix recipe over many years, Mr Bradshaw believes he now has the right ratio to get effective knockdown of the flies.

"It's the only product that we've been using on our cattle and it honestly works such a bloody treat, it really works so efficiently," he said.

Mr Bradshaw said the next round of trials involved slaughtering the animals and checking the fat and meat tissue for residue to confirm the meat was safe to eat.

"We have reduced the amount of chemical going on the animal compared to a conventional back rubber so I am quietly confident that the tests will come back positive for us that we don't have residual in the meat and fat tissue, but that can't be confirmed until that testing is done," he said.

"I am at the point we've attained the intellectual property and well and truly proven the concept and I'm at the phase where I need to partner with a chemical or wax company or funding from the likes of MLA."

Mr Bradshaw runs 70 Brangus breeders on 200 acres (81 hectares) and selling off his weaners at about nine months.

He said feedback from graziers was that the product, BRB, was fantastic.

International patents have been granted for BRB in Australia, Canada and China with patents in the USA, Brazil and the EU in the final stages.