Healthier animals

Broilers fed with OVN ROVIMIX® are able to thrive in any conditions with optimal robustness. That’s how OVN ROVIMIX® makes a significant contribution to better animal welfare .

Better animal welfare
Improving the health and wellbeing of an animal plays a crucial role in the production of any food of animal origin. One essential objective of nutrition and management programmes would therefore be to limit the incidence of disease and its debilitating effect on animals. It is common knowledge that there is a close relationship between nutrition, health and wellbeing.

Supplementing an animal's diet with optimum quantities of vitamins at times of greatest susceptibility to infection reduces the risk of disease.

Health and immunity
Vitamins in sufficient quantities play a fundamental role in the ability of an animal to develop an effective immune response to disease. Since the onset of a disease cannot be predicted, the immune system needs to be prepared long before the disease attacks the organism.

Various studies have demonstrated a close relationship between low levels of antioxidant vitamins in the tissues and a reduction in immunocompetence (effective response of the immune system) ahead of manifestation of any clinical signs of disease. Vitamins E and C are powerful antioxidants which protect cells from free radicals, and other types of by-product, harmful to an animal's metabolism. The same studies demonstrated that high levels of vitamin E in feed during the first three weeks produced:

• an improvement in the immune response to infection and vaccination,

• improvement in batches affected by sub-clinical infections,

• fewer relapses due to secondary infections.

Reproduction
When breeding animals were fed diets rich in vitamin E during critical periods of growth and production, the results were:

• an improved response in the production of antibodies during vaccination,

• a clear association between high levels of vitamin E in the liver and improved viability of newborn animals.

It is therefore more effective to increase levels during embryogenesis, when the immune system is developing at a greater rate.

Wellbeing
As we know, infections are a cause of pain and suffering in animals. In general, farmers, breeders and other people involved in animal care have their animals’ best interests at heart and feel responsible for ensuring satisfactory standards of wellbeing.

In the food sector too, there are increasing numbers of retailers, wholesale distributors and even fast food chains which have incorporated certain standards of animal welfare into their codes of best practice, aimed at giving animals a healthy life which will help guarantee healthier food for their consumers.

Optimum vitamin supplements in an animal's diet will improve its wellbeing because:

• optimum vitamin levels contribute to improving the metabolism, nutrition and wellbeing of the animal;

• improved immunity increases resistance to disease;

• some vitamins, such as biotin, help reduce the incidence of digital dermatitis, thus preventing certain types of lameness, whilst others, such as vitamin C, alleviate the negative effects of stress on health.