Healthy animals mean profit and sustainability for farmers, therefore it is essential to ensure that you are feeding and managing your animals correctly.

Four Lakes provides quality calf care, post-calving, in-lactation, dry period, heat detection, artificial insemination, and veterinary products to farmers to genuinely promote health and production.

They distribute international top-quality animal products and have recently added Lactipro for rumen development to their product range.

The Lactipro range can be used for calves, dairy cows, and culling cows, improving rumen development in animals.

LactiproFLX for calves

LactiproFLX contains Mega e, which metabolises lactic acid to improve rumen development in calves.

The benefits of LactiproFLX are:

  • Improves average daily gain of calves by 17% (studies available)
  • Improves feed conversion ratio by 4%
  • Calves are 10 to 12 kg heavier
  • Calves wean 7 to 10 days earlier

Because calves are the future of the herd, it is essential to ensure they are raised correctly to maintain productivity as they grow older. A calf that struggles while young does not perform well later on. Lactipro improves the conversion of lactic acid into volatile fatty acids (butyrate and propionate). These fatty acids are responsible for the development of rumen papillae, which enhance feed utilization throughout the animal’s life.

LactiproFLX Dairy

LactiproFLX Dairy contains Mega e (Megasphaera elsdenii), a natural rumen microbe that helps animals regulate the pH of the rumen for a healthy rumen.

The stabilized and improved pH can increase milk production in adult dairy cows by 250 to 400 kg per lactation, improve feed conversion by 6%, and completely prevent lactic acid build-up.

A cow’s energy status is a dynamic balance between caloric intake and output. When a cow uses more energy than she can obtain from feed, this is considered a negative energy balance.

The consequences of a negative energy balance include:

  • Pre-calving bacterial contamination
  • Subclinical acidosis
  • Leaky gut
  • Bacterial contamination during lactation
  • Foot-rot

This imbalance can be resolved by feeding the cow a diet with increased energy intake as soon as possible after calving. The problem, however, arises when a cow transitions to the lactation diet, causing microbes in the rumen to shift from fibre-digesting to starch-digesting organisms. This sudden increase in starch can overwhelm the starch supply in the rumen, leading to microorganisms such as Streptococcus bovis and unwanted lactic acid production.

LactiproNXT for culling Cows

LactiproNXT contains the unique patented strain of Megasphaera elsdenii NCIMB 41125, which has been specifically selected for rapid rumen growth.

The strain has a fast doubling time and is one of the hardiest Mega e strains.

This product is ideal for transitioning culling cows to a high-concentrate diet in the shortest possible time.

Benefits of LactiproNXT:

  • Average daily gain improves by 9,7%
  • Feed conversion improves by 6,2%
  • Hot carcasses are up to 8,6 kg heavier
  • Feeding period is 35 days

Culling cows from a beef or dairy herd can increase calving percentages and reduce health-related issues. It is beneficial to get a culling cow onto concentrate feed quickly and for a short time to get the best market price for that cow. Lactipro helps with the digestive challenges that come with this transition.

To learn more about Lactipro, visit www.axiota.com, and for more information on Four Lakes’ other products, please visit their website at www.fourlakes.co.za