Ingelheim, Germany, 17 February 2020 – For over 12 years, Boehringer Ingelheim has been leading the way in promoting farm animal well-being, mainly through organizing the annual Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-being, This event brings together over 100 industry experts to discuss the latest trends, challenges and opportunities in the industry, while also striving to raise the focus on cattle pain and well-being. 

Now, together with global innovation consultancy Innovia Technology, an innovative project has been initiated with the aim of acquiring a deeper understanding of the human behaviors that impact cattle well-being.

The project involves gathering information from veterinarians and farmers from around the world on farming practices and routine pain management interventions.

To be able to improve animal well-being, we first need to understand the needs of the animal and how they are affected by human behavior. However, in order to effect change, we ultimately need to understand the behavior of people.

Behavioral science – the understanding of how and why people behave in certain ways – could be helpful. The theories that underpin behavioral science can help in many stages along this journey. In the context of farm animal well-being, it can help get to the root causes of what people do and why they do it.

“With the involvement of Innovia’s expertise, we expect to better understand farmers’ behavior and motivations and analyze how their choices can affect cattle well-being.

This should enable us to design interventions that target the reasons behind these behaviors and are acceptable and feasible to stakeholders,” explains Laurent Goby, senior global marketing manager at Boehringer Ingelheim’s ruminant business, who is heading up the project.

“This ambitious and innovative project aims to deliver a set of possible interventions for vets and farmers, starting with one specific area of cattle well-being. We expect that the work along the way will reveal many interesting and important aspects of pain management in cattle which may serve as a basis for practical interventions to ultimately improve cattle well-being,” he summarizes. 

This project is part of a global engagement initiative called Cattle First. Cattle First is how we at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health work with cattle farmers and cattle veterinarians. Through specific projects and case studies, this initiative aims to showcase the company’s values, passion and understanding we share with our customers as well as long-term commitment to supporting them.

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Business Unit

Boehringer Ingelheim is the second largest animal health business in the world, with net sales of almost 4 billion euros in 2018 and presence in more than 150 markets.

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