moobiotics
A young highland calf looking at the camera

Strong from day one.

We're building Calf Start: one sachet that gives a newborn calf's gut the bacteria it needs in its first week of life.

See how it works Get in touch
Dairy calves in individual pens

The problem

The first weeks decide a calf's life.

A newborn calf has almost no gut bacteria. Until the right ones arrive, it is wide open to the infections that cause scours, the biggest single killer of young dairy calves.

56%of unweaned dairy heifer deaths in a US national survey were attributed to scours. Source
RxThe best-evidenced products today are medicines, so farmers need a vet's prescription before they can use one.

Our technology

Colonising the gut early.

Calf Start pairs a proven rehydration base with a gut bacterium no one has brought to animal feed before: Faecalibacterium, isolated from healthy calves.

Faecalibacterium sp.

A butyrate-producing bacterium that supports the gut lining. Calves with more of it in week one grow better and get diarrhoea less often.

Our own calf-derived strain

Lactic acid bacteria

An authorised Enterococcus faecium strain that helps crowd out harmful bacteria.

The Calf Start sachet, with separate compartments for freeze-dried bacteria and electrolyte powder

Electrolyte powder

Sodium, potassium and buffer to keep the calf hydrated, the standard of care on every calf unit.

Oxygen-free packaging

Faecalibacterium dies in air. A sealed, dry compartment with a protective matrix keeps it alive on the shelf until the sachet is opened.

Two doses in the first week. That's all.

No new equipment and no change to the farm routine. The schedule is designed to fit inside the first seven days, when it matters most.

  1. Day1Dose 1
  2. Day2
  3. Day3
  4. Day4Dose 2
  5. Day5
  6. Day6
  7. Day7

Illustrative timing. The exact schedule will be set by our dose-ranging trial.

A Calf Start carton holding individually sealed sachets

1 Keep in the fridge

Each dose is sealed on its own, in packs for year-round and seasonal calving.

2 Mix into warm water

Break the inner seal and empty one sachet into two litres of warm water.

A newborn calf drinking from a teat bucket

3 Feed the calf

Give it like any electrolyte drink, by teat bucket or bottle.

What the research says

In a published field trial of 554 calves, those given Faecalibacterium in their first two weeks did better than untreated calves.

3.1%vs 6.8%calves with severe diarrhoea
1.5%vs 4.4%deaths linked to diarrhoea
+4.4 kgper calfextra weight gained before weaning

Foditsch et al., PLoS ONE 2015. These results come from earlier research, not from trials of Calf Start, which is still in development.

Where we are

  1. Isolation

    Find and sequence Faecalibacterium strains from healthy calves.

    Year 1

  2. Screening

    Test strains for oxygen, acid and bile survival.

    Years 1–2

  3. Stability

    Freeze-dry and prove a 12-month fridge shelf life.

    Years 2–3

  4. Dose-ranging

    Find the schedule that works best per calf.

    Years 3–4

  5. Field trials

    Three controlled trials on commercial calf units.

    Years 4–5

  6. Authorisation

    EU feed additive approval, then the UK and Australia.

    Years 5–6

Meet the team

The people behind Moobiotics.

Six people taking a new calf probiotic from the lab to the farm.

Jasper Zietlow

Jasper Zietlow

Chief Executive Officer

Expert in building animal health ventures, from raising investment to partnerships with nutrition and veterinary companies.

Vani Agrawal

Vani Agrawal

Chief Financial Officer

Expert in financing long biotech development cycles, from Innovate UK and Defra grants to planning the costs of regulatory approval.

Eléonore Baubion

Eléonore Baubion

Chief Marketing Officer

Expert in agricultural marketing, building trust with calf rearers and the vets who advise them.

Terrence Wai

Terrence Wai

Chief Scientific Officer

Expert in gut microbiology and probiotic development, leading strain isolation, screening and calf trials.

Arthur Pepper

Arthur Pepper

Chief Commercial Officer

Expert in veterinary and feed distribution, getting Calf Start listed by distributors and into calf-rearing units.

Mateo Martin-Nieto

Mateo Martin-Nieto

Chief Operating Officer

Expert in biotech operations, from anaerobic manufacturing with partners to a reliable cold chain for every sachet.

Contact us

Let's talk calves.

We're early, and we'd like to hear from the people who know calf rearing best. Tell us what you see on farm, or how you'd like to work with us.

hello@moobiotics.com
  • Farmers and calf rearersWhat goes wrong in the first week, and what would make a product easy to use.
  • VetsHow you advise on scours today and what evidence you'd want to see.
  • ResearchersCalf microbiome, anaerobic microbiology or trial design.
  • Distributors and investorsBringing Calf Start to calf units across Europe and beyond.