As winter fades, cattle yards become messy and muddy. Winter’s last-minute wreckage may not threaten an animal’s outward appearance. However, it poses serious threat to inward functions.
An animal health organization offers tips on how to protect cattle from bad bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella during the annual transition from winter to spring.
AUDIO: Brian Fieser, ADM Animal Nutrition
ADM Animal Health heavily emphasizes health promoters.
Brian Fieser, beef field nutritionist for ADM Animal Nutrition, says health promoters come in handy, especially during seasonal transition periods. He also finds such tools useful during calving season.
?Our CitriStim? product is designed to promote health and bind up bad bacteria,” Fieser said. “(We) try to start before calving season to get the environment cleaned up and get better gut health, so they (calves) have a better shot of fighting off diseases. In general, when we add that to calving nutritional management, we see a lot of healthier calves, a lot fewer issues. Calves can get up and go, and stay going for us.?
ADM Animal Nutrition recommends feeding CitriStim? to pregnant cows. The product ?cleans the environment,? which in turn prevents calves from contracting bad bacteria.
?When it (CitriStim?) comes in contact with with bacteria, the two bind with each other. Once they stick together, it carries out the back of the animal. We feed CitriStim? to the cow so (we can) clean up the environment a little bit, and have a lower bacterial load on those calves who are either nursing on cows that might have been laying in mud or the calves that (have been) laying in mud themselves,” Fieser said.
ADM Animal Nutrition focuses on preventative care rather than curative care. Fieser says CitriStim? is relatively low in cost and easily pays for itself.
For more information on CitriStim?, visit www.admanimalnutrition.com.
