Manufacturing and minerals producer Pratley’s clinoptilolite-based livestock feed additives, Clinomix and Clinoxin, can increase the health of livestock, resulting in increased cost savings and profit for farmers.

Clinoptilolite is a type of zeolite, which, in turn, is a crystalline aluminium silicate mineral with an open, three-dimensional honeycomb-type structure containing an elaborate network of negatively charged channels at the atomic scale.

Clinomix and Clinoxin can also control mycotoxins, a mould proliferation found in contaminated animal feed.

Clinomix is suitable for ruminant farm animals such as cattle. Ammonia levels are elevated in the animals’ gut when they are fed high levels of nonprotein nitrogen such as commonly fed urea. High levels of ammonia are toxic for the animals.

The additive absorbs the ammonia and acts as a slow-release reservoir, which serves as a buffer to the effects of overfeeding with nonprotein nitrogen.

“This means the animals are healthier and can be fed more nonprotein nitrogen than normal, with all the economic benefits of a nonprotein nitrogen diet,” says Pratley marketing manager Eldon Kruger.

He adds that Clinomix has been shown to effectively alleviate acute and chronic diarrhoea in ruminant animals, which is problematic in feedlots and high-density farms.

It also assists in reducing rumen acidosis by acting as a buffer against rumen acidosis as well as controlling excessive acid within the rumen.

Clinoxin is made for poultry animals. It acts as a mycotoxin binder to maintain healthy poultry, specifically aflatoxin, which is found in contaminated feed such as maize.

It also assists in decreasing ammonia levels. High levels of ammonia are a big threat and contribute to strong odours in chicken houses. By decreasing ammonia levels, respiratory problems in chickens are minimised and the odour is controlled.

“It also reduces the faecal moisture, pathogenic colony counts and gastrointestinal disorders within feathered animals,” Kruger concludes.