4 October 2022

2 minute read

By: Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production

Farm and a wine vineyard have a lot in common. Both face a variety of environmental challenges that affect ultimate success—everything from soil quality to climate and the threat of drought. But each farm—like each vineyard—is also has environmental challenges uniquely its own. This “same, but different” approach to vineyard management is nothing new in the wine industry.

Using the microbial makeup to your advantage

Just as differing factors in different regions affect the wine produced there, the Microbial Terroir™, or microbial makeup of your soil, feed ingredients and the animals themselves, can affect growth and production.

Sampling the Microbial Terroir on your farm can help determine what microbial challenges are affecting your animals so you can address those challenges directly. As wine grape growers know, ignoring the uniqueness of the total environment—the Microbial Terroir—can have a profoundly negative impact on productivity and profits. The same holds true when dealing with the challenges that your animals are facing.

Knowing what challenges are out there

Clostridium perfringens is the pathogenic strain of clostridia. In cattle, it’s a known cause of Hemorrhagic Bowel Syndrome (HBS). Non-pathogenic strains of clostridia aren’t good either—they can impact rumen and GI function silently killing productivity and efficiency.

In poultry, Avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) is another productivity killer. Subclinical levels of APEC cause greater variation in bird performance and lost bird potential.

How does Microbial Terroir work?

Microbial Terroir is not a product but an assessment of your unique environment. After it’s performed, you’ll either get a blend of Bacillus strains customized just for you or a regional blend that matches your needs and targets your specific challenges.

The Bacillus-based product you’ll receive from ARM & HAMMER™ after an assessment is called CERTILLUS™. Available for dairy, beef and poultry, it uses proprietary strains of Bacillus to help animals become more resilient—so they’re able to combat these challenges and maintain health and productivity.

After assessing the Microbial Terroir and implementing a solution on your farm, ARM & HAMMER can re-sample, providing updated reports on your pathogen load to determine just how well things are working.