The widespread use of the biological product, Mylo^® throughout the “Ballangeich Run” property of Jakob and Wiebke Franzenburg, at Ballangeich, in the Western Districts of Victoria has led to healthier animals and better performance.

Jakob Franzenburg said they had seen trials conducted by the University of Queensland showing positive results for Terragen products so decided to introduce the new feed supplement product Mylo^® when it first became available.

“I was keen to watch my cows to see how they reacted,” he said. “You want to prevent things from happening. We believe Mylo is the greatest product in the world as it seems to help boost the cows self defence systems. We’ve always had healthy cows but now they are even more healthy and more active.”

Mylo^® is used in calves through to milking cows, with the three-day old progeny fed the feed supplement twice a day through their water.

Some of the health conditions we had trouble with have virtually disappeared,” Mr Franzenburg said. “We believe it helps boost the animals’ self-defence.”

The use of Mylo^® in a calf’s diet has meant they are developing faster and often ruminate at three weeks of age instead of five weeks.

Calves also have advanced appetites, look to be in healthier condition with shiny coats, and have strong growth rates.

Mr Franzenburg said growth rates of 1000 grams per day were regularly achieved in that early development phase.

Until the calves reach six months of age, the Mylo^® is added to their water through a Dosatron system plumbed into the calf rearing pens. At this age there has been a noted improvement in calf health and reduction in mortality.

The calves that were originally fed Mylo^® back in 2016 have now calved and have demonstrated the benefits of the program with increased milk yields in comparison to animals that did not get the Mylo^® treatment.

Mylo^® is also used in the dairy and is applied on top of pellets every morning and night to help keep the herd healthy.

Mr Franzenburg said the cows seemed stronger in handling environmental pressures – demonstrating less incidence of lameness and handling the heat better. “Feeding Mylo to calves has demonstrated long-term benefits, with these calves as adult milkers achieving increased milk yields over cows that were not fed Mylo as calves,” Mr Franzenburg said.

He said the average BSCC was 65,000 and they achieved daily milk yields of more than 33 litres per cow in spring.

Since they have been utilising the Terragen products they have reduced their use of antibiotics by 60%. Good animal husbandry with a preventative mind set will always help reduce farm animal health issues. Prevention is better than treatment.

Both Jakob and Wiebke believe that there is no doubt that the use of probiotics is the future of the dairy industry, helping to reduce costs and improve profits.