Novonesis Looks To Promote Livestock Gut Health & Sustainability

It seems every day there is new research that focuses on the importance of gut health, not only from a physical standpoint, but for the ability of livestock to address stressors. Dr. Steve Lerner, Senior Scientific and Business Advisor at Novonesis Animal Health said probiotics result in better ROIs, whether that’s diary or beef. And speaking of dairy, Lerner noted that some of their most loyal customers are dairymen who used their product for 3-5 years.

“And then like all good dairymen, things are going well, price of milk drops a little bit, so they decide to save some money," Lerner said. "They go off of our product. Within three weeks, a month, maybe two months, we get a call. They go, Hey Steve, something bad's happened. It's either hydrogen sulfide has gone through the roof in their digester, or now they've got some digestive upsets they didn't have before. They go back on product and the problems go away. Now, I know this is proof by example, but if it's your example, you become an instant believer.”

Sustainability Is Good Ag Production

Lerner said Novonesis Animal Health has 15 years of observational data from certain dairies, with each operation reporting improvements in the variables that were important to them. Lerner added what they are doing is sustainability at its core. He added often when people think about sustainability, it’s a regulatory issue.

"But in fact, if you are a 5th, 6th, 7th generation producer, you know that everything that you have done, to improve the efficiency of your operation, is sustainability," Lerner pointed out. "I was talking to a producer that said 10 years ago when he said the word sustainability he had to spit the bad taste out of his mouth. Now he realizes that just means good production agriculture.”

Improved Efficiency In The Long Run

Lerner added feed efficiency is simply a producer trying to improve performance, but in turn, saving acres of cropland for producing the same amount of output. Thus, American farmers can produce more meat, eggs and milk, more efficiently.

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