A juvenile animal feed additive, such as for calves, that promotes animal health and growth, reduces mortality and can act as an antibiotic substitute. The additive inhibits pathogen growth resulting in lower pathogen load within the animal and reduced pathogen sheading to the environment. The additive includes bacteria that inhibit E. coli O157:H7 growth by as much as 93% and Salmonella growth by as much as 97%, together with commensurate inhibition rates against the Big-Six Escherichia coli strains. The additive includes various combinations of the following pathogen-inhibiting bacteria: Lactobacillus animalis; Enterococcus faecium; and Pediococcus acidilactici.