If you are familiar with LiveAg, you’ve likely seen the VitaFerm® or Gain Smart® -badged calves sell on video auctions. These calves typically stay healthier and gain more efficiently due to the research-proven AO-Biotics® Amaferm® that powers BioZyme products.
Although best known for its cow-calf line and its flagship brand, VitaFerm, BioZyme offers a diverse family of brands that all contain Amaferm.
Recently, on the LiveAg We Live It podcast, podcast hosts Ty deCordova and Casey Mabry visited with BioZyme Vice President of Domestic Business Alan Lee to discuss the family of brands. One line, which all three show dads use extensively—Sure Champ® is designed for show livestock—and is celebrating its 40th birthday this year.
Crossing Over
Lee points out that there are a few BioZyme products that work both in the production beef sector and the show livestock industry, which is how the conversation started. deCordova, who markets and backgrounds stockers, is an avid fan of the VitaFerm Stress Tubs. Additionally, his daughters’ show calves are also big fans of the Stress Tubs in their turnout runs each night.
“[The] Stress Tub has got an application in both the show livestock world on the cattle side, as well as in the commercial sector,” Lee said.
Sister products – the VitaFerm® Cattle Drench and Sure Champ® Cattle Drench – have a similar application as well. Both products encourage hydration and appetite in cattle that are stressed or going through challenges. They both contain Amaferm, enzymes, and MOS (mannan oligosaccharides). The Sure Champ Cattle Drench does come in a smaller size, easier to fit in your show box.
A similar product, Sure Champ® Liquid Boost®, is designed for all species, including cattle, goats, sheep, hogs, poultry, and rabbits. It does not contain the enzymes but encourages appetite and hydration across species.
“The cattle drench and the stress tub have a spot on both sides of the industry, the show side as well as the commercial side, and both products are growing leaps and bounds in terms of sales. And it’s because they work. It’s because they make these things [animals] healthier, and they do what they’re supposed to do. As far as the Liquid Boost, it’s in our goat barn, sheep barn, cattle barn, and hog barn. We love it,” Lee said.
Sure Champ Turns 40
The Sure Champ line has been working for exhibitors and feeders for 40 years, as BioZyme celebrates its 40th birthday this summer. According to Lee, the BioZyme team has celebrated at various junior nationals, state fairs, and fall shows with t-shirt giveaways and other promotions and will keep the celebration going through the year-end at Arizona National. The company takes great pride in a show line that can withstand the test of time. Part of the celebration includes a birthday cake flavored Sure Champ Cattle pellet and Appetite Plus Gel.
Both Mabry and deCordova are long-time Sure Champ users, and give the products credit for keeping their animals healthy from the inside out. Mabry said he has suggested Sure Champ to other exhibitors who have animals that are off feed, and the difference is noticeable. He takes a proactive approach when getting new show pigs into the barn, running the Liquid Boost through the medicator.
“Honestly, I think we attribute it to a really good start at the beginning on our side and then kind of continuing through the process more so as something that just kind of continues through. We use it all the time, so we’re not trying to fix something but just trying to continue to keep those animals on feed because when they eat, they win,” Mabry said.
Products Backed by Research
All BioZyme products are backed by research. Amaferm is research-proven to increase digestibility in a range of species, and has over 175 published journal articles, theses, abstracts, and controlled field trials supporting its effects. No supplement leaves the BioZyme warehouse in Saint Joseph, Missouri, without being researched, tested, and animal-approved.
“I get impatient at times when I know we’ve got something that can bring value, but we’re not ready because all the research hasn’t been completed or all the validation hasn’t been done. So, once we come to market with something, you know, when I lay my head on the pillow at night, I have no doubt it’s going to work. We’ve already proved that it’s going to work before anybody gets to see it,” Lee said.
In addition to the products for cattle and show livestock, BioZyme also makes complete lines of supplements for companion animals: DuraFerm® for sheep and goats, Vitalize® for horses, dogs and cats, Backyard Boost® for poultry.
Learn More Today
To view the entire We Live It episode featuring Lee, deCordova, and Mabry, visit episode 30.
If you want to learn more about any of the BioZyme products, visit the BioZyme website or find a dealer near you.