Foot Doc
New Member
- Location
- County Down, Northern Ireland
Hi all, following a thread on Robotic Milking it has been suggested to open a new thread and widen the debate on the use and legalities of Cattle Pacifiers in the UK and Ireland. All opionions welcome.
There seems to be some confusion and grey areas regarding the legislation concerning the use of electrical devices on animals. As far as I am aware no electrical implements are supposed to be used on animals in Ireland and the UK, including cattle prods.
A lot of problems arose from a few years back with farmers and vets using the "Stockstill" device which used two wires clipped onto the animals head and backside, and then ran an electrical current through the whole animal to "lock" muscle movement. This control also affected the heart and the lungs and there were reports of death occurring on some animals. This resulted in broad legislation banning the use of all electrical equipment on animals. Unfortunately the Pacifiers seem to have been included in this even though they work on totally different technology and in over 12 years of use worldwide and thousands of units sold, no reports have been made of any animal coming to harm by using this device.
The Pacifier uses low AC current output technology to gently stimulate the animal’s natural nervous system’s response to muscle constriction, allowing the operator to perform treatments in the shortest possible time. The pulse output is so low that the probe could be inserted into your own mouth and turned up fully without any harm apart from a tingling sensation. The Pacifier units are sold worldwide and have obtained all the necessary animal welfare documentation in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and America. Perhaps it is time the legislation was challenged in this part of the world.
If anyone cares to look at the videos on our website http://www.soshoofcare.com/About-Us.html you will see that all the animals that the Pacifier is used on show no undue stress and it makes the work a lot easier and safer for the stockman. How many animals and people have been seriously injured trying to carry out routine everyday procedures on stock. Are kick bars, nose tongs, head scoops, squeeze crushes, head halters, leg restraints etc all animal friendly and guaranteed not to cause pain, stress and injury? Using the Pacifier animals can quickly be brought under control to carry out any number of procedures. It is imperative that pain relief is used on any procedures were required, and it is the responsibility of the user to do so. The Pacifier can be used to safely and calmly bring the animal under control to enable analgesics to be administered.
Heifers in the milking parlour are quickly settled without the use of kick bars and ropes and will quite happily eat their meal while the pacifier is used and it stimulates milk let-down. It is also a training device in that most heifers can be "trained" in 3 - 6 milking’s. How many farmers have been injured with kicking cows and heifers? There are lots of other jobs that can be carried out safely while using the Pacifier (see videos).
We are all in the business of farming and looking after and keeping stock in the best of condition and the Pacifier is a great management tool to enable us to carry this out to the best of our ability. It is not for everyone and you need to make up your own mind as to the ethics of using one. As far as I am concerned I don't leave home without it as it makes a lot of my work easier and safer all round, especially Freeze Branding as I no longer need anyone to sit on cows backs or enter the crush to hold tails up. Most farmers and stockmen are very happy about this!!
As I mentioned earlier perhaps it is time to look at the legislation and challenge it where necessary. At a time when so much is talked about farm safety surely a device such as the Pacifier could be used in some farm trials to properly establish how animal friendly and people friendly it is! Sometimes red tape and nonsense needs to be confronted head-on. When I started my Cattle Hoof Trimming business in 1985 it was deemed illegal for me to treat a cow with a lame foot as this came under the Veterinary Act, yet most vets were not interested or didn't have the proper equipment to try and treat large numbers of lame cattle. A lot of our work in the early days came from Vet referrals. Nowadays hoof trimmers are classed as "para professionals" and are allowed to treat lame animals, in the same way that Veterinary nurses are now allowed to administer injections to small animals, and the Veterinary Act has been changed to accommodate this.
We have vets and some of the best award winning farmers among our list of happy customers and nearly everyone comments that they wonder why they put up with so much hassle for so long and would not like to now do without their Pacifier. We are talking to manufacturers and installers of robotic milking systems at the moment having successfully demonstrated the Pacifiers for use on cows and heifers using the robot for the first time. Would many farmers like to go back to milking cows by hand or in a pipeline byre? I think not. In my opinion we have to embrace new technology and make use of it, and don't just write it off without giving it an open-minded appraisal.
We carry out demos where we can but this is not always possible because of distance and time constraints, but we also give a 7-day money back guarantee if not completely satisfied (not had one back yet).
Let the debate continue!!!
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