Expensive mineral

[RobertMac]

Frank, like FH says, "it is a management decision." In 1998, I decided that I would move toward the philosophy that if Nature didn't provide it, then why should I. I decided to put my herd in a situation that mimicked Nature and my only job was to provide adequate forage. Anything else was a 'supplement.

It started with deworming...I had cows that stayed in good condition year round...others that needed help while raising their calf or they would come up open. So I was 'supplementing the herd for the sake of the bottom end cows. So I quit deworming and sold the cows that came up open...my bottom end cows. I continued eliminating 'supplements and waiting to hit that wall...a wreck were most of my cows came up open.

I now have eliminated all supplementing. Last year all my cows calved in 54 days. This year I moved calving up 30 days and 2/3 of the cows gained time. I don't keep any antibiotic on hand...the last bottle of LA-200 out lived its expiration date nearly full. I'm going on my forth year of no vet expense. Am I getting maximum weaning weights? No, but I don't sell at weaning except for calves with bad dispositions. Bulls/steers will hang a 700+ pound carcass at 24 months...heifers 600+ pounds. That's all on forage and no were near the highest quality forage possible.

I have been surprised at how things have turned out. I'm not recommending that anyone try this...just putting it out their for something you can think about. God didn't create a flawed cow so man could correct it...think about it.

 

[RobertMac]

FH, many years ago when I was in college, the soil/crop relationship was illustrated with a wooden barrel where each vertical board of the barrel represented a soil nutrient. The barrel would only hold its contents up to the limiting nutrient. Supplementing the limited nutrient would increase total amount the barrel would hold(crop yield), but not dramatically change the chemical makeup of the crop(nitrogen possibly being the exception). I'm sure there are differences in your forage and mine and certainly the amount...your cattle run 1 to 20-50 acres; mine run 1 to 1-2 acres. Our job is to find the animals that are adapted to our resources( with its deficiencies) or we have to supplement them. It's a management decision. The better adapted our cattle are to our natural resources, the less supplementing they will need.

Then there is the issue of balancing the supplements. A deficiency of a mineral/nutrient can be caused by an excess of a metabolically related mineral/nutrient...such as balancing energy and protein. An excess of one can be viewed as a deficiency of the other. Forage is the diet Nature provided cattle during genetic development...it has to be the most balanced diet for our cattle.

Do all your cattle need extra copper and zinc?

For the commercial producer, mineral/salt, even at these prices, is to cheap not to provide.