As the rules and regulations around antibiotic use in farm animals grow each year, so does the interest in probiotics, which add beneficial microorganisms rather than killing bad ones.
“I want to be ahead of regulations that are coming into place,” said Simon Goodwin, a pork producer from Calmar, Alta., who attended an information meeting about Formula 1050, the first registered probiotic in Canada for hogs.
Probiotics are like yogurt for animals, additives that improve the good bacteria in the animal’s stomach and reduce harmful pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella.
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Goodwin has looked at probiotics in the past, but the research results seemed too inconsistent to take seriously. With new research and products on the market, Goodwin is taking a second look.
“With the changing marketplace, a person has to look at different options for the health of the operation,” Goodwin said.
“I think there’s opportunity here.”
Jim Sheehan of Morinville, Alta., came to the conference to learn more about probiotics and their possible adoption into his hog operation and his brother’s chicken farm.
“Anytime you can get away from medications, it’s a plus,” said Sheehan.
“It sounds like it’s very beneficial.”
Frank Marshall, a Camrose veterinarian who specializes in hog health, said there have been enough promising results to keep up the research, especially with the global trend to reduce and eliminate antibiotics in food animals. Much of Europe has already eliminated antibiotic use in food animals.
“We owe it to our industry to pursue some of this,” he told the group.
Marshall has used Formula 1050 in some of the barns he works with as a way to improve animal health and reduce feed intake.
In barns with disease problems, Marshall treated the animals with an antibiotic to clear up the problem and then switched them to a probiotic to reduce the amount of medication needed in the future.
“It’s not a treatment for disease. It’s a good management tool,” Marshall said.
Probiotic research shows that an enhanced immune system reduces the number of harmful pathogens that live in intestines.
Kelly Kreikemeier, a Nebraska veterinarian with Life Products, which manufactures Formula 1050, said it’s easy to overanalyze the product and how it works.
“It’s a live bacteria to establish a healthy gut and that’s all it is,” said Kreikemeier, who expects probiotic use to increase in the next few years.
“The response to good probiotics is going to be bigger and bigger.”
Now that researchers know the product works, further work will focus on refining how the probiotic is used in the feed system, he added.
Glen Yarham of Strome, Alta., in charge of marketing Formula 1050, said growth of the product has surpassed the company’s goal. In the first few years of research trials, about 10,000 hogs were on Formula 1050 in Canada and the United States. He estimated 500,000 hogs in Canada are now on the probiotic.
“We’ve had really good positive results. Our customers are happy with the product.”
John Patience, head of nutrition and research with the Prairie Swine Centre in Saskatoon, said public and private research facilities around the world are doing extensive probiotic research.
“It’s an area that’s actively being pursued,” he said.
“It’s an exciting concept, but we need to do a lot more research.”
He echoed the concerns of others that probiotic research results tend to be variable because of the limited knowledge of how the gastrointestinal system works in animals.
“We do not have a full enough understanding of what’s needed by the gut of the pig in order to achieve a benefit for the pig,” Patience said.
