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BioLink 4 Plants & Animals

For Animal Health

Probiotics for horse, pet & animal care

A healthy gut microbiota is essential to protect your animals from harm and support their wellbeing. For both people and animals, the link between a healthy gut microbiome and overall health and wellbeing, is now clear.

In animal health, a healthy microbiome is important for creatures of all kinds, supporting their development and maintaining their productivity.

Gastrointestinal microbiota is made up of various bacteria, protozoa, fungi, archaea, and viruses. An imbalance in an animal’s gut environment at any age may have damaging consequences, but it’s especially important during an animal’s early development. 1

Where a creature’s gut microbiome is dominated by potentially harmful micro-organisms, a condition known as ‘dysbiosis’, the animal usually becomes sick.

The important role of probiotics in supporting animal health and wellbeing

After 30 years of research, the significance of a healthy gastrointestinal microbiome to an animal’s health has led to the development of probiotic feed additives for all types of livestock, horses, fish, and poultry.2

Often described as ‘live microorganisms’, probiotics have been used to create a gut ‘ecosystem’ where there are more micro-organisms with potential health benefits than those that potentially cause harm.

What sort of factors affect an animal’s gut health?

In horses, livestock, and in all animals bred for food production, there are four main environmental factors affecting gut microbiota. These are feeding practices, diet, farm management, and productivity constraints. These factors impact feed efficiency, digestive condition, and health of the animals.

Moving from a forage-based diet to one that’s based on readily fermentable food sources, for example, has a significant impact on ruminal microbial communities. The resulting imbalance can lead to an increased risk of ruminal acidosis, often seen in young animals after weaning. Ruminal acidosis is also a common digestive disorder in high producing dairy or beef cattle.1

Why give your animals probiotics?

Healthy animals can better fight off disease and the ill effects of environmental toxins.

Probiotics work by stimulating the production of active antimicrobial compounds. These compounds are effective in targeting harmful intestinal pathogens. They also stimulate general immunity, building resistance to disease-causing bacteria.

Research outlined in the paper Probiotics in animal nutrition and health, identified the main uses and benefits of using probiotics in various animal populations.

Benefits of Probiotics for animal health.

Ruminants (Dairy Cows & Cattle)

Young ruminants

  • Promoting optimal maturation of the rumen microbiota
  • Increasing digestive safety at weaning
  • Reducing risk of pathogen colonisation

Dairy cattle

  • Increasing milk yield and quality
  • Increasing feed efficiency
  • Promoting health (limit acidosis)

Beef cattle

  • Promoting weight gain
  • Increasing feed efficiency
  • Promoting health (reduce acidosis)
  • Limiting shedding of human pathogens
Horses

Gestating mares

  • Increase diet and nutrient digestibility
  • Improve milk quantity and quality

Foals

  • Promote growth
  • Limit diarrhoea

Racing horses

  • Avoid hindgut disorders and increase the digestibility of diet
  • Limit stress (transportation, race, etc.)
Pigs

Gestating sow

  • Improve diet digestibility
  • Limit constipation
  • Decrease stress

Lactating sow and piglets

  • Improve colostrum quality, milk quality and quantity
  • Increase litter size and vitality
  • Increased piglet weight
  • Reduce risk of diarrhoea

Fattening pigs

  • Improve feed efficiency
  • Improve meat quality
  • Reduce risk of diarrhoea

Introducing Opti-Gut

A natural probiotic to help maintain animal health and assist immune function.

At Biolink 4 Plants & Animals, we’ve seen the benefits of using microbial-based soil stimulants and fertilisers in food production and for the home gardener.

That’s why we’ve developed Opti-Gut, a new natural probiotic range to support the health of all types of animals, including horses, dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs, poultry, and fish. It’s also perfectly safe for pets.

Opti-Gut uses powerful, high-strength multi-strain microbials to help replenish animal gut flora and assist in nutrient absorption. It’s one of the Biolink range of products based on powerful biological stimuli that are effective, safe to use, and good for the environment.

  1. Probiotics in animal nutrition and health, F Chaucheyras-Durand 1, H Durand
  2. Prebiotic effects: metabolic and health benefits. Marcel Roberfroid 1, Glenn R Gibson, Lesley Hoyles, Anne L McCartney, Robert Rastall, Ian Rowland, Danielle Wolvers, Bernhard Watzl, Hania Szajewska, Bernd Stahl, Francisco Guarner, Frederique Respondek, Kevin Whelan, Veronique Coxam, Marie-Jeanne Davicco, Laurent Léotoing, Yohann Wittrant, Nathalie M Delzenne, Patrice D Cani, Audrey M Neyrinck, Agnes Meheust
Try Opti-Gut today and experience the difference!