Bayer and Université de Sherbrooke working together on dairy cattle health

May 31, 2016

License agreement revolves around possible mastitis vaccine

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Bayer and Quebec’s Université de Sherbrooke have entered into a licensing agreement which will advance a possible vaccine to help dairy cattle fight mastitis.

As part of the agreement, Bayer will develop and commercialize the vaccine, which was discovered at the university, based on the technology property from TransferTech Sherbrooke, the corporate entity that commercializes innovations from the school.

A vaccine that could help dairy cows battle mastitis would be beneficial to farmers, especially as it causes billions of dollars-worth of losses; and according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, upwards of 895 million people directly depend on some form of dairy farming.

Bayer and Sherbrooke

"In North America, it is estimated that the economic losses related to mastitis can reach US$ 2.4 billion annually, representing about 11% of the total milk production from more than 10 million cows," said Professor Jacques Beauvais, Vice-President, Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Université de Sherbrooke in a press release. "An effective vaccine that could help protect dairy cattle from S. aureus mastitis would make a welcomed difference to dairy farmers around the world."

In a release, Bayer said it’s pleased to work with researchers in the hopes of helping veterinarians and farmers fight mastitis.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.