Caroline Walsh farms near Ballinascarthy, outside Clonakilty in West Cork along with her husband Joe. Joe and his father Patrick also run a busy agricultural contracting business out of the farm. Her herd is currently 64 dairy cows with 100% Spring calving with 12 replacement stock reared on the farm this year.
Caroline had problems in the past with Cryptosporidium in young calves and has been using Milkshake C-Guard and Encrypt since the start of the year so last week Sam Sweetnam of Mervue Laboratories and Inform Nutrition called out to see how Caroline was getting on.
Caroline explained how the problems arose at first. “There has always been a small bit of crypto on the farm but when Rotavirus got into the calves as well, this lead to big problems last year.”
Last year was Caroline’s first encounter with crypto, loosing several calves to it that season. She started the calves on a well-known product widely used against Crypto but after some time found it a bit hard on calves and felt they struggled to recover. So this year she was open to trying a natural alternative; Encrypt and Milkshake C-Guard, with great results. Caroline explained, “We started using both Encrypt and Milkshake C-Guard in January this year with the first calves and are delighted with the results so far. The calves are happy and healthy naturally.”
Milkshake C-Guard is a blend of the Mervue Laboratories’ proven Milkshake formula with the added benefit of their trademarked C-Guard blend of essential oils; Oregano, Garlic and Rosemary, which are widely known for their beneficial properties. Milkshake C-Guard’s unique blend of natural organic acids improves the digestibility of milks so there are more nutrients available for growth.
Encrypt is a natural product made up of activated clays. In addition to activated Clays, Encrypt contains a specially selected combination of Natural Herbs, Spices and Essential Oils.
Since using Encrypt and Milkshake C-Guard Caroline is delighted with the results and has found that she can really get plenty of milk into the calves without any sign of nutritional scour,
“We will 100% use Encrypt and Milkshake C-Guard next year, we have found that prevention is better than cure.”
Sam Sweetnam added, “The key to calf rearing is keeping the calf healthy and thriving at a young age as this is when they are most at risk to common diseases. We have had great feedback from a lot of farmers who are using Encrypt but it is great to get out on the farm and see first-hand the results that Milkshake C-Guard and Encrypt can support in maintaining calf health.”
