SHEEP farmers can reduce their dependence on antibiotics at lambing time, with the use of Stockmax pine shavings – purpose-made bedding which appears to eliminate or dramatically reduce the incidence of infection and the need for antibiotics.

According to the company, the secret to this natural solution lies in the pine timber used to make the shavings which are produced from 100% Scots Pine timber, whose unique antibacterial properties have been scientifically proved.

Pine contains natural defence mechanisms that eliminate a wide range of harmful bacteria and fungal spores, including the E.coli bacteria that cause the most serious infections in the lambing pen and E. Faecium, both of which thrive in the warmth and moisture of manure and urine in bedding.

Bedmax, which produces the shavings recently completed a £750,000 programme of research and production development to understand more about the natural health protection offered by the shavings, and to enhance the benefits Stockmax offers.

Tim Smalley, managing director of Bedmax said: "We started making Bedmax shavings in 2000 to offer horse owners a dust free, completely natural bedding that would help them prevent or overcome the main health problems they face keeping horses in stables. The principal problem for horses in stables is airborne dust and spores, mostly generated by forage and bedding. Horses also face threats of bacterial and fungal infection that can seriously damage their health and wellbeing.

"The research we have discovered or commissioned over the past 16 years has shown that pine really does help combat many of these infections, and our experience with sheep farmers over the past five years or more has shown very clear evidence that it works as effectively for sheep and lambs in the lambing pen as it does for horses in the stable – or for any other animal kept inside on bedding, for that matter."

Research is now proving that pine kills or suppresses many more strains of harmful bacteria that cause other common diseases and health problems.

"We are continually discovering more because science is evolving, and so are the problems facing our customers. For sheep farmers, or in fact all livestock farmers, the need to drastically reduce the use of antibiotics is a major new problem. We believe that Stockmax really can help solve this problem for farmers, and we will go on investing in research and development to understand the science that makes our shavings work for our customers, and improve our processes to make them work even more effectively.”