The rise of nutritional therapy: Part I
A game changer for livestock welfare and performance
Canadian and U.S. cattle, swine and equine industries now have access to DeStress Nutritional Technology — an innovative product line developed to protect animals against the negative effects of stress related to activities such as transport and handling.
It’s a unique platform developed by Canadian researchers based on years of cutting-edge research, designed to deliver a combination of animal welfare and performance benefits unique in the marketplace.
“The science shows that DeStress Nutritional Technology is an excellent option to protect against stress loss,” says researcher and nutritional therapy expert Dr. Al Schaefer. “It benefits the animals, supports optimal performance and is designed for simple and effective use. It is drug free and based solely on natural nutritional ingredients. It is also highly palatable and easily fed.”
There are several nutritional components contained in DeStress Nutrition technology as well as several elements of philosophy implemented in the approach to using the product, explains Schaefer
“My background training is largely in stress physiology and amino acid kinetics. Earlier in my career, I was involved with a research group that was trying to resolve was the frequent but somewhat unpredictable loss in quality grade and carcass yield in both cattle and swine. I was asked to help look into this matter.”
As part of their investigations, the researchers spent substantial time transporting animals in simulated commercial situations and then analyzing the effects of on factors such as physiology, endocrine responses, muscle biochemistry and also meat quality and yield aspects.
“As scientists have learned globally, we found that the transport and handling to which animals are exposed is a major stressor and indeed predisposes them to degraded meat quality and yield,” says Schaefer.
Posted on September 7, 2016 by Brad Brinkworth
