Hannah Shaw, Club Secretary of Spa YFC was recently selected for a YFCU Exchange in Norway. Provita sponsored her t-shirts for the trip.
Hannah has bought and reared her own calves for the past four years on the family farm, whose overall work ethic is to ensure that their animals are as healthy and thriving as well as possible. Part of the farm’s animal health programme is to use Provita Protect for newly born or bought-in calves. Provita Protect is the only medicinally licensed probiotic (POM-VPS) for the prevention of calf scour. Calves fed milk replacer also get Provita WD Ruminant feed additive to boost the rumen development to further prevent any upsets and use the milk nutrients efficiently to help thrift. Hannah and the Shaw family use Provita Promist to fog sheds when cattle groups are housed over the autumn period. The results were very noticeable in 2017 when mixing various batches of cattle in the same air space as no groups developed acute coughs or any respiratory distress upon housing. The respiratory health in bought-in calves has been greatly improved with use of Provita Promist and they will continue to use it as best practice during 2018. The Shaw family have recently started using Provita Combat hoof and wound spray after they dehorn calves. This protects the wound from infection, helps it to heal quickly and seals it nicely to stop any bleeds when calves accidentally hit that area.
“I have noticed that once calves get a healthy start either at birth or upon arrival on the farm, they are much easier to look after and require little intervention. I use Provita Protect, Provita WD Ruminant and Provita Promist with confidence on my calves, as well as all the other calves on our farm. We have noticed considerably fewer cases of pneumonia and scour on the farm and overall our calves are thriving better from this routine. We use Provita Combat after dehorning the calves, to form a protective barrier against infection without the use of an antibiotic spray.”
Whilst Hannah was away on the exchange trip, enjoying the company of new people and experiencing a new culture, one of her heifers calved with a smart bull calf. This calf was given both Provita Protect and Provita Calf Colostrum to give it the best possible start. Provita Calf Colostrum which can be used to supplement or substitute maternal colostrum and contains natural EU sourced colostrum.
Provita Protect Trial Data*
The clinical expert report for Protect shows it works as effectively as an antibiotic for calf scour. Also, when calves suffering from pneumonia were observed, they recovered quicker due to the immune stimulation effect of the probiotics.
- Reduce calf scour by 83% (see figure 1)
- The three strains of lactic acid forming bacteria used in Protect were shown to be inhibitory to eight pathogens common to farm animals
- Improved growth rates and body condition by 31%
- Protection against nutritional scours for bucket and teat fed calves
- Use at birth, for bought-in calves and at times of stress
Figure 1 – Percentage of calves with scours
*references available on request
‘I would like to thank Provita for sponsoring my t-shirts whilst I was out in Norway. It was a great experience. There were many highlights to the trip including Oslo sightseeing, building new friendships with the host families, the beautiful Norwegian scenery, 4H camp, traditional baking and all the new experiences I had’, commented Hannah.
For more information FREEPHONE 0800 328 4982 or info@provita.co.uk