Home-brewed remedy could go global

Teat-Mate is sprayed on cows' teats to stop them cracking and to prevent mastitis.

Milking cows can crack and discolour the skin on hands, but after 33 years as a dairy farmer Chris Lethbridge's hands are as soft and pale as an office worker's.

He attributes his clean and tidy hands to the 40 per cent glycerine content in the Teat-Mate spray he helped concoct for conditioning the teats of his dairy cows.

"I had black hands until four years ago -- now they are like a baby's bum," he said yesterday.

Teat-Mate spray is based on saline solution, glycerine and aloe vera, avoiding iodine and chlorhexidine traditionally used in teat sprays aimed at reducing the chance of cows developing mastitis.

Lethbridge, 54, and his wife, Pauline, milk 360 cows on 120ha at Hukerenui. They developed Teat-Mate with their friends John and Amanda Hawken, a Hamilton couple with backgrounds in science. They got Agricultural Chemical and Veterinary Medicines registration for the product and Teat-Mate was launched at the Innovation Centre during the National Fieldays last month. Lethbridge says their stand was swamped with inquiries, possibly because it was the sole dairy product on show.

Teat-Mate, made by Jaychem in Auckland, is being sold through RD1, Farmlands, and on the internet. A concentrate, it is marketed in 20-litre, 200-litre and 1000-litre containers costing $270, $1667 and $6854 respectively. The national market for teat sprays is understood to be worth millions of dollars annually and Teat-Mate has potential for sales around the world.

A once-a-day milker, Lethbridge wanted a teat spray that would last for 24 hours and heal dry cracks and low-grade infections.

He knew saline solution had anti-microbial properties and asked the Hawkens if it could form the basis of a new teat spray.

They came up with the glycerine mix and when the Lethbridges and their neighbours tested it extensively the product appeared to be a winner.

Aloe vera was added later, Lethbridge said.

"It was mentioned as a magic word for healing -- and it worked."

The product has been patented in New Zealand and Australia.