There was a time when feeding milk replacers supplemented with antibiotics was considered a “blanket” insurance policy to protect calves from disease. But that practice has changed considerably. Industry data suggests that 20 years ago, roughly 20-40% of all calf milk replacer contained antibiotics. Today, it’s less than 5%.

One of the most helpful, non-antibiotic additives developed for preweaned calves in the past several decades is mannan oligosaccharides, or MOS.