14 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN April/May 2025 Research Studies Demons ate Reduced Ca le S ess With FerAppease KELSEY POPE | CONTRIBUTING WRITER Acomparatively new animal health product, FerAppease, has likely been a hot topic of discussion among producers from cow-calf operations to feedlots and every stage in between. While word of mouth is spreading about this product, we are going to dive into the published research to give more insight for producers. But for those new to this product, what is it? FerAppease = Ma rnal Bovine Appeasing Subs nce FerAppeaseʼs active ingredient is the maternal bovine appeasing substance (MBAS), which is a synthetic analogue, or equivalent, of the natural pheromone that female cattle produce when they are lactating. Its purpose when given to healthy cattle is to mitigate the detrimental effects of stress by causing a calming effect. The product, launched in 2022 by FERA, does not require a veterinary prescription nor veterinary feed directive, and there are no meat or milk withholding requirements. The dosage for this topical product, for animals weighing more than 200 pounds, is 10 mL (5 mL to the nuchal skin, or behind the head poll, and 5 mL to the skin above the muzzle or nose, given with a pour-on gun). The uses of FerAppease before management and physiological stressors in an animalʼs life can be numerous – weaning, dehorning, castration, branding, transportation, commingling, vaccination, parturition, interruption of lactation (dry off ), breeding, etc. According to its parent company, the stress mitigation starts to take place immediately after FerAppease is applied. Improving Performance and Health “There are several stressful periods in the production system where cattle are exposed, so our hypothesis at the beginning was to see how MBAS could alleviate the consequence of that stress for that animalʼs performance and health,” says Reinaldo F. Cooke, Ph.D., Burkhart Endowed Professor, Beef Cattle Research, Texas A&M University. Cooke has conducted several research projects using MBAS. Cookeʼs first area of work with MBAS was at weaning where they observed calvesʼ growth during the 30 to 45 days PRODUCTION
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