An Italian-based company says winning the overall prize at the AXA National Dairy Innovation Awards marks a “good entrance” to the Irish market.
Ozolea scooped the top award for its Ozolea-Mast product on the first day of the AXA National Dairy Show at the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, Co. Cork.
Launched in Italy in 2016, Ozolea has a mission to reduce antibiotic resistance in dairy farms using new herd management tools, while retaining a focus on food safety and animal health and welfare.
Ozolea-Mast, which also claimed top honours in the scientific category in the AXA National Dairy Show Innovation Awards, is a veterinary device for intra-mammary use in dairy cows.
The product contains a food-grade vegetable oil which has been bioengineered to provide a physical barrier to the inner wall of the teat canal without any pharmacological or metabolic effect.
It supports tissue functionality when it is not severely compromised.
The product works by creating “an uncomfortable environment for bacteria” and protects the tissue from further bacterial attack.
Ozolea-Mast can be used for lactating and dry-off applications and leaves no chemical residues in milk and meat.
Dairy
Chiara Turelli, Ozolea president and founder, told Agriland that the company wants to improve productivity on dairy farms and reduce their environmental impact, through “a drastic reduction of the excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics”.
“We offer to the dairy market a product which is a veterinary device, so it’s not a pharmaceutical product. It wants to offer to dairy farmers a tool to substitute the use of antibiotics, so when antibiotics are not strictly necessary,” she said.
“When we can avoid the use of antibiotics and preserve their efficacy as life-saving drugs, also for humans, in those situations we can use a tool which is Ozolea-Mast which can perform a physical barrier in contact with the inner wall of the teat canal.
“That helps the tissue to autonomously regenerate. This regeneration is a key point in the better functionality of the tissue and of course the overall production of the animal,” she said.
Speaking about winning the top accolade at the AXA National Dairy Show Innovation Awards, Turelli said:
“That was truly astonishing for us. It was a great success for all of our team. We are just the tip of the iceberg, we have a lot of people working at this new approach in favour of the dairy chain.
“We really love to support this sector, it has a primary importance in society in general. What we want is to offer a product as a responsible approach to the dairy chain, so we love to deal with dairy farmers, as well as veterinarians and cooperatives.
“We do have a food safety approach so winning this prize was a good entrance on the Irish market and we really hope to do great things here,” she said.
The company is currently working with an Irish partner to educate the market here on the new product, it is also offering free trials on selected farms.