Lallemand Animal Nutrition has launched SMART GROWS, a young-ruminant programme designed to support calf health, resilience and performance from birth through weaning.
The programme combines nutritional and management interventions rather than positioning calf health as a single-product category. Lallemand describes the approach as integrating microbial solutions, milk hygiene and management across the pre-weaning period.
The strategic premise is straightforward: the early-life period influences not only calf survival and growth but also the transition through weaning and subsequent productive performance.
Beyond a single feed additive
SMART GROWS brings together several components of young-ruminant management, including:
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Milk-replacer nutrition
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Milk hygiene
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Starter-feed management
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Microbial solutions
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Gut-health support
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Farm management
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Weaning transition
This reflects a wider shift within animal nutrition toward integrated health platforms. The approach is particularly relevant because young calves experience several simultaneous challenges:
Birth → colostrum → environmental exposure → dietary transition → rumen development → weaning stress
Managing these events individually can leave gaps between interventions. Integrated programmes attempt to connect them.
Why early-life health is becoming commercially important
Calf disease and poor early growth have downstream economic effects through:
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Mortality
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Treatment costs
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Delayed growth
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Poor weaning performance
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Delayed first calving
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Lifetime productivity
