Provita, which manufactures Protect, has the world’s only GMP+ licensed facility for the production of veterinary probiotic medicine products. The Northern Ireland based company has developed a range of livestock products including medicinal probiotics, hoof care products, feed probiotics, feed supplements, colostrum and newborn products, electrolytes and energy deficiency, air purifiers, feed additives and mint gels.
Calf scour levels remain high in herds causing significant long-term productivity and animal welfare problems. There are two issues: 1 - Immunologically compromised calves and 2 - high environmental contamination, with cases then fanning out across the herd. Scour is known to have a major impact on both welfare and productivity. Calves suffer dehydration and pain with a high temperature, so there is an animal welfare issue, as well as a very negative long-term effect on productivity. Also calf scour has a relationship with pneumonia. Calves with scour appear to be around 20 times more likely to get pneumonia, and if they get it, it stunts them for good because the lungs never fully recover. It is very widespread and is something that has to be prevented rather than treated – once you get to the treatment stage the damage is already done.
A unique approach
Provita Protect is an oral supplement that provides high-level multi-strain probiotic bacteria. Dr Barragry explains: “Within the intestine there are two categories of microorganism – beneficial microorganisms known as commensals and disease-causing pathogens. The more commensals there are the better because they displace the pathogens and they also neutralise the toxins of the pathogens.” Provita Protect infuses commensal bacteria into the gut to populate it with beneficial bacteria and “essentially crowd out the pathogens”. It is now known that a healthy gut, or microbiome, not only governs gut health, it also governs immunity. “It seems to be immune signalling from the commensals of the gut to the other body compartments,” Dr Barragry explains.
In trials, Provita Protect has been shown to lead to an 83 per cent reduction in scour incidence. “Curiously, we also noticed far less respiratory disease, which declined by 50 per cent,” he adds. “Science has now shown that there is what is called a ‘cross talk’ between the gut, the lungs and immunity. This research has far-reaching ramifications for calf health. As well as reducing scour and pneumonia, trials of the product revealed an increase in bodyweight of around 10 per cent up to weaning.
- 83% less incidence of scours in calves treated with Protect
- 50% less incidence of respiratory disease
- +10% live weight gain at weaning
- +31% average daily gain