Feeding calm under pressure

The truth about great ideas is that they often arise from difficult problems.

About a decade ago, Jim McLain, owner and founder of TwoBulls Performance Feeds, was facing such a dilemma: how to calm young bucking bull calves without reducing the inherent instincts that define their performance. 

“They’re hot-blooded and wild,” he said, adding that these high-strung calves often panicked when they were handled, which could lead to injuries.

Luckily, this problem wasn’t McLain’s first rodeo, literally. A veteran professional bullfighter turned bucking bull breeder, he’s spent more than 20 years addressing challenges in the livestock industry. He launched TwoBulls as a “company of necessity,” developing his first product, a feed supplement, to provide proper nutrition for competitive bucking bulls. McLain’s company has since expanded to offer several other livestock performance products, including recent collaborations with MFA on swine feed and more. 

This time, the “necessity” seemed almost contradictory: relaxing animals without making them drowsy. But McLain found a chemical engineer, Tucker Silberhorn, who was willing to look for a solution. 

“We knew that what we needed was something inside the brain,” said McLain, who worked with Silberhorn to create a finished formulation with the desired effects. 

Aptly named DeStress Plus+, the multi-species supplement is all-natural and non-sedating, combining vitamins B1 and B3 with L-theanine, an amino acid naturally found in green tea. L-theanine is a game changer in the fight against stress, McLain said, supporting a calm response by softening overactive brain signals and alarm responses. It also helps increase alpha brain waves, leading to a relaxed, focused awareness without causing drowsiness. 

Together, the ingredients work with the brain’s natural processes rather than overriding them. And because the product is all-natural, it’s considered safe for all livestock, with dosing based on tolerance rather than age or weight. 

Originally only available as an oral liquid form, the supplement has earned praise from owners of barrel horses, stubborn show pigs and even anxious dogs since its launch. Beyond promoting calm behavior, McLain noted it also helps lessen the impact of stressful events—like hauling or weaning—on animals’ immune systems.

Even with the success of the liquid DeStress Plus+, McLain was still looking ahead to potential improvements. A main goal was to eliminate running cattle through a chute to administer the product, so the animals didn’t have to be subjected to stress to be de-stressed. As a solution, McLain and his team formulated DeStress Plus+ into a powder that can be added directly to the animals’ feed, thereby removing the chute and handling from the process.

However, through numerous field tests, they discovered adding it to a pellet or a cube would make it easier to feed and more palatable. To turn that concept into reality, McLain reached out to his longtime friend in the bucking bull industry, David Yarnell, MFA Incorporated’s national sales manager. 

“I already knew the product worked, so I wanted MFA to be involved,” Yarnell said. “I believed it could impact our business and help him as well. To me, it was a win.”

Last year, TwoBulls partnered with MFA’s feed mill in Aurora, Mo., to add the DeStress powder to a cattle cube. “That went really well and turned into, ‘Could we do a mini pellet?’” Yarnell said.

The answer was “yes.” The mill successfully manufactured both a DeStress cattle cube and a DeStress mini pellet aptly named “Dialed In.” The Dialed In Technology can also be added to any MFA feed ration, such as Cattle Charge or Ring Leader, just like MFA’s Shield Technology. In fact, coming soon, MFA will offer Ring Leader Show Pig Alpha Boost, a top-dress feed that includes both Shield and Dialed In Technology.

McLain is excited about the growing range of offerings through MFA. “This is a product that can help people at every stage of the livestock industry,” he said.

Yarnell agreed, noting the long-standing need for a solution like this for livestock producers and exhibitors. “Ultimately, our goal at MFA is to support our producers—and when they succeed, MFA does, too,” he said. 

Putting stress to the test

After only a few short months in production, the new MFA feeds with Dialed In Technology have had great success, particularly in the livestock show industry. Greg Davis, MFA nutrition product specialist, started sharing samples of the product with his show animal customers across the Midwest.

Among those were the Merrifields of Adrian, Mo., where Mason Merrifield and his wife, Alicia, run a 30-sow show pig farrowing operation with help from their children, Kenton, 16, and Khloe, 15. While their two oldest children, Myles and Makenna, have since left home, Makenna continues to assist with the breeding operation. The family began breeding with only four sows the year before Myles joined 4-H. 

“We’ve had milestones to reach every year and focused on meeting those goals,” Mason said. “Now I would consider us at the level of quality for state competition. And the kids have exceeded that, so I’m trying to keep up with the quality of the swine to match their skillset.” 

Kenton and Khloe have worked hard for that success. The teenagers balance their schoolwork with operating their farrowing barn—with a busy season from November to February—and then begin prepping pigs for sale and their own shows, which begin in April. 

“I feel like that’s my biggest struggle, having to work all night and then also go do stuff during the day,” Khloe. 

“Being able to balance is definitely the hardest part,” Kenton agreed, adding that losing animals is also tough. “It’s just emotionally straining in those times.” 

As a show pig breeder himself, Davis understands those challenges and wanted the Merrifields to try MFA’s Ring Leader Swine Lactation Meal with Dialed In Technology. With his own sows, Davis has seen great improvement after using the feed, especially in preventing piglet mortality from crushing. 

“I’ve noticed my sows paying more attention,” Davis said. “When they have babies, they’re a little slower to lay down after they get up and eat. If adding the Dialed In can save even one piglet in the litter, it essentially pays for itself and more.” 

Per Davis’ recommendation, the Merrifields started the swine lactation ration with Dialed In Technology three days before their sows began farrowing. Mason wanted to give the new feed to one particular sow that had a history of volatile nesting behavior.

“She’s 10 hours of just absolute insanity,” he said. “Up to the minute that she starts to farrow, she tries to tear that barn to pieces.” However, after being fed the ration with Dialed In Technology, “she immediately just calmed and quit all the crazy,” Mason recalled. “I knew then we had a product that could be beneficial to everybody.”

He was next eager to try the ration with gilts delivering their first litter. “We just saw an immediate calm in them,” Mason said. “They tend to want to bite at those babies to get them away from their face under the stress of farrowing, and I’ve not had any even open their mouth.” 

Khloe has also noted improvements. “A lot of them have taken back to feed very fast,” she said. “It’s like it enhances their appetite afterward.” 

The Merrifields aren’t alone in seeing success in the farrowing barn with the help of the Dialed In Technology. Dave Bloch operates a 150-head show pig breeding operation near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Davis sent Bloch a sample of the pelleted version of Dialed In made at MFA’s Aurora feed mill. 

“He said, ‘Hey, will you guys try this?’ I tested it on the most unruly ones I could, and I would say it passed with flying colors,” Bloch said. 

Bloch first gave Dialed In to three gilts and noticed a difference after just three feedings. 

“They seriously looked like different pigs than they had the days prior,” he said. “They didn’t have that fight-or-flight look in their face. These first-time moms did a great job as far as just lying there milking their pigs.” 

Bloch has also fed Dialed In to sows that struggle adjusting to the crates. 

“They don’t act like they’re drugged; they just act completely content,” he said. “And that makes all the difference, especially in those first few days after farrowing. I’ll use it across the board when we farrow 150 sows this summer. To me, this product has a chance to truly revolutionize.”

A ripple effect of success

The Dialed In impact isn’t limited to the hog barn—other livestock are benefiting, too. Craig Dewey of Vilonia, Ark., is the agricultural instructor and FFA advisor at Pottsville High School. He and his wife, Courtney, have three children: Creed, 6; Charlee, 5; and Cedar, 4. While Dewey advises his students on all types of livestock, his own children show market lambs.

They used Dialed In mini pellets during last year’s show season and were impressed by how the lambs stayed attentive in the ring despite all the new sights and sounds. 

“It allowed those animals to stay focused and gave my kids the best opportunity to display,” Dewey said, adding that one of his son’s lambs, which could be twitchy and unpredictable, responded particularly well. “He didn’t have to fight her. It just kind of chilled her out, and she stood.” 

After the children’s success in the ring, including the grand drive at the Arkansas State Fair, Dewey plans to use Dialed In for his training process and introduce it to his students.

“I think it’s going to be an essential part of our barn in the future,” he said. 

As parents, 4-H leaders and FFA instructors already know, showing livestock can have lasting effects on young people. For this reason, Mason Merrifield plans to use Dialed In Technology while preparing and training this season’s show pigs. 

“Just one bad experience for a young kid may discourage them from doing it ever again,” he said. “And if this product does what we think it’ll do, it’s hard to tell what it’ll do to the industry long term.”

What began as a solution to a single problem has proven to be an answer to many more, while opening the door to new possibilities. McLain sees the partnership between TwoBulls and MFA as just the beginning. And, true to his innovative spirit, he’s already looking ahead. 

“I’m excited to see where it goes and to work with MFA to develop what’s next,” he said.

Visit your local MFA or talk with your MFA livestock expert for more information about feed products available with the Dialed In Technology. 

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