* Why the thickness of Calol is an advantage
* The pitfalls of starter drenches
* Natural, antibiotic free calf scour treatment
* Reliable disinfection of calf sheds
* Calsafe - a safe, powerful, concentrated calcium injection.
Calol, as calcium chloride in oil, was originally designed to buffer severe caustic effects of aqueous calcium chloride.
The one big negative from the field has been: Calol sticks to the side of the bottle.
This is why it works, it is an oil.
If all the oil for the car ran out of the bottle it would not work in the engine. Like oil in an engine Calol adheres to the gut wall.
Why is this important?
1 With oral calcium products a concentration gradient is required to drive absorption
2-Rumen bypass is needed to avoid dilution in 180L rumen fluid
3 In clinical cases of milk fever, there is loss of muscle function, so no bypass.
4-Aqueous mixes lose concentration gradient in rumen
5- Calol is not diluted out in the rumen it coats the gut wall like oil coats an engine
6 Therefore a gradient is maintained against the gut wall and absorption is not impaired.
Only Calol Can Do This!
Not all oils are the same! Different viscosity of oils results in different properties.
It is not just aqueous mixtures that are diluted out in the rumen milieu but many light oils and fatty acids also are readily dispersed through it, losing concentration.
The type of emulsion is all important. Just as not just any oil is effective in a motor, not just any oil has affinity for the gut membrane.
Calol Properties
Thick to encourage swallow (safety)
Thick oily emulsion so as to not mix with rumen contents (efficacy)
Buffers calcium burning effect (safety)
Its not how it pours out of the bottle but what it does inside the animal (or the car!).
Is there any real value in starter drenches?
As a general rule if there is enough feed available for the colostrum group then it is unlikely that there would be a benefit from starter drenches.
The emphasis today is on having healthy well-fed animals, not in energy deficit at calving, as these will have far fewer problems.
Starter drenches are predominantly energy
For other metabolic disease prevention good nutrition, as stated, is the first requirement.
Then targeting at risk cows with Calol is infinitely more economic and effective than whole herd starter drenches.