Current trends within human and animal health is towards healthy functioning digestive systems. With animal health that means both the rumen and intestinal tract.

There is also a strong movement to reduce the use of antibiotics and growth promotants. There are a whole range of up and coming products to fill this gap.

Rumen Buffers

Can help offset variations in diet. Sudden changes in pH can lead to sub clinical acidosis with loss in feed digestion and utilisation. Full blown acidosis can be life threatening and certainly causes long term negative production losses in animals that do recover. The Optimate™ range acts as a buffer to help maximise digestion.

Prebiotics

Useful products which act in the intestinal tract which can have a number of uses, such as binding toxins, slowing the passage of feed, regulate water uptake. Yeast extracts, (eg Fubon MOS), and products such as Optimate™ provide a probiotic effect in the intestinal tract to bind many toxins, particularly aflatoxins, and helps regulate water availability. Mycofix® Plus 5.E is a broader spectrum binder which also helps against zearalenones as well as aflatoxins.

Probiotics

Come in many packages but by definition are ‘live micro-organisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host’ (World Health Organisation, 2001). They can be single strains of a yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) or bacteria (eg bacillus, lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium), or can be a combination of these.

What is known is that effects are strain specific, in that some strains work in the rumen and others in the intestine, and different strains may produce different outcomes in the rumen or intestinal tract. Fubon Live Yeast is sourced from dairy cow rumen and has extensive trial work available showing its advantage in the rumen for production.