Numnuts: An Innovative Approach to Pain Relief in Farming

Ann Wilkinson, technical veterinarian advisor for Numnuts, talks about their aim to revolutionise the lamb castration industry.

Speaking with REX host Dominic George, Ann Wilkinson, offered insights into the tool changing the game in farming and animal health: Numnuts.

Numnuts is a product designed to deliver local anesthetic to a targeted area. It aims to revolutionise the industry by offering a more humane and efficient solution for castration and tailing in livestock. The tool was developed in response to a growing demand for pain relief methods in farming, an issue that has remained unaddressed for decades.

Discussing her extensive experience in the industry, Wilkinson explains, "I used to take vet students out with me from New York City and they started asking me awkward questions like why don't I use pain release? I had no answers and it sort of made me have a look around and go. Actually why don't we use pain release?".

Wilkinson's career journey, which included an 18-year stint with Pfizer, culminated in her current role at Agilis Group, where she now champions preventive and location-specific products. One of these is Numnuts, a two-step process that involves ringing and injecting local anaesthetic simultaneously. This simple yet effective solution aims to reduce the discomfort experienced by animals during procedures. 

"Numnuts took that concept of how you use your hand as an open span and reversed it or turned it 90 degrees to make it better on your wrist. So now, instead of pulling across your hand, now your fingers come towards your wrist, so there's less pressure on your wrist, so there's ergonomics behind it as well," Wilkinson explains.

This revolutionary product is not just about animal welfare, it also presents potential productivity gains. Wilkinson shares an instance where a farm used Numnuts and observed that the lambs "looked better, stayed on their feet, found their mums, and moved off to the paddocks quickly".