Lesaffre launches dairy calf management programme

Lesaffre Feed Additives (LFA), the animal nutrition and health division of the Lesaffre Group, has launched Program Neonate, a three-pronged approach to dairy calf management.

The approach covers three key stages from birth to calving: the close-up period, neonatal stage, and pre-weaning stage. It is largely based on the company's specialty yeast-based products: Actisaf and Safmannan, which generate high quality colostrum to passively transfer immunity to the young calf; Optisaf First, which reduces incidences of neonatal diarrhoea. Actisaf is also used in the pre-weaning stage to boost the daily weight gain and feed conversion.

The new programme was introduced to the press at EuroTier 2014, and LFA also invited James Husband, Technical Director of UK-based Evidence Based Veterinary Consultancy, to share with the audience the technical and economical management of the dairy calf from birth to calving. Husband's explanation of how high quality colostrum passively transfers immunity to the young calf through immunoglobin and leukocytes, and the importance of achieving a high average daily gain during the pre-weaning stage, provided further support to positive research trials conducted for Program Neonate.