Bovine mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland, often caused by the introduction and proliferation of virulent bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus uberis (Stanek, Żółkiewski & Janus, 2024). As a disease that causes significant detriment to cow health, welfare and milk production, it is a prominent issue for dairy farmers worldwide (Costa et al., 2025; Petersson-Wolfe, Leslie & Swartz, 2018). The increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes within key mastitis-causing bacterial strains (Morales-Ubaldo et al., 2023; Naranjo-Lucena & Slowey, 2023; Molineri et al., 2021) reinforces the need for research into alternatives to conventional antimicrobial treatments. Such alternatives should not only be effective at eliminating mastitis-causing microbial agents and practical for dairy farmers to implement on-farm, but also sustainable in the long term. Informed by the findings of a previous social investigation and a de novo sustainability decision-making analysis, our research team has designed several biomolecular treatments that aimed to eliminate key mastitis-causing bacteria. These novel treatment designs were tested on four bacterial strains of Staphylococcus aureus, as one of the most common bacterial species associated with clinical mastitis (Kerro Dego & Vidlund, 2024). Our results and corresponding insights open up a broader conversation about balancing competing interests when determining the most ‘sustainable’ option for an alternative mastitis treatment. Further studies are recommended in this space.