09 Feb How to give your calves a healthy start in life
With calving season upon us, we all know that good nutrition is crucial for young dairy calves. It lays the foundation for their future growth and development.
Lining up all the ingredients of a proper diet and the right supplements, delivers all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients they need that are essential for healthy bone development, muscle growth, immune system function, and overall health.
Plus, proper nutrition helps ensure optimal growth and weight gain. This helps in milk production down the track.
Using Opti-Gut probiotic pellets for breeding healthy calves
The benefits of probiotic supplements for young ruminants include:
- Promoting optimal maturation of the rumen microbiota
- Helping to increase digestive safety at weaning
- Assisting in the risk of pathogen colonisation
Now’s a good time to plan to supplement your calves’ feed with Biolink OPTI-GUT probiotic supplement.
Opti-Gut comes in a convenient pelletised form. And we’re told by farmers and breeders who have used it, that their animals love the taste!
At just 7c a day per calf, mixing 7g into their starter grain in their first 100 days (so just $7 per calf) will optimise their nutritional uptake and help built a strong and healthy digestive system.
Then once the calves are off milk, blend OPTI-GUT with grain fed heifer developer mix for a smooth transition to hard fed and optimise growth towards joining weights.
Our on-farm trials have shown some great benefits for the future females in dairy herds.
Learn more about why OPTI-GUT is great for growing healthy calves here. Or if you’d like to speak to Kevin or Graham about your calf supplementation program, get in touch.
You can read more about probiotic supplementation for dairy calves in this independent study: Strategic use of microbial-based probiotics and prebiotics in dairy calf rearing
