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Heifer development
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Brad S
Well-known member
Silver raises a good issue about baseline for mineral study - so good I got no answer. I've had cows in a several wide ranging places. Id guess shortgrass in mt and dakotas might be the strongest grass I've seen, and FH still realizes positive effects from mineral. Generally people have a very high regard for flint hills grass, but mineral supplements are easy math there (still many, if not most steers graze on salt - even on a gain basis)
If you can get 8 or 9 good calves and sell a still solid cull, cow replacement costs are manageable.
If you can get 8 or 9 good calves and sell a still solid cull, cow replacement costs are manageable.
Faster horses
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Cattle would need to run in the "Perfect" ranch country if they are never lacking for anything. Not saying it isn't out there,
but I haven't seen it nor heard about it. Til now.
Jon Patterson from MSU did a mineral study in Montana several years ago and it was ongoing for several years. His findings were Montana and Wyoming forage were lacking in copper and zinc; both are very important to a cow. That's why mineral is an important supplement. It fills in the blanks.
Plus the fact that different water sources contain sulfates which tie up copper and zinc and diminish the immune system.
That's one thing mineral about--enhancing the immune system so cattle can fight off disease.
but I haven't seen it nor heard about it. Til now.
Jon Patterson from MSU did a mineral study in Montana several years ago and it was ongoing for several years. His findings were Montana and Wyoming forage were lacking in copper and zinc; both are very important to a cow. That's why mineral is an important supplement. It fills in the blanks.
Plus the fact that different water sources contain sulfates which tie up copper and zinc and diminish the immune system.
That's one thing mineral about--enhancing the immune system so cattle can fight off disease.
Mike
Well-known member
Dietary mineral evaluation should augment the mineral evaluation of animal groups. If minerals are deemed to be adequate in the diet but the animals are found to be deficient, antagonistic interactive effects of other minerals need to be investigated. As an example, high sulfur or iron in the diet can cause deficiencies in copper and selenium, even when there are adequate concentrations in the diet.
scout
Well-known member
We run salt a fescue mineral and fly control tried to go cheap one year without fly control big mistake the horn flys where miserable really seems to help with pinkeye also we vaccinate for pinkeye also
gcreekrch
Well-known member
We test feed every second year and adjust custom mineral accordingly. Between min. and an aggressive vaccination plan, it has been our experience that a lot more cows are bred and a lot more calves live past 30 days of age. Hard to justify $25 or $30 per year but time treating sick calves is worth more money than the combination for prevention is.
We are similar to GCreek. We feed test every year as we do a lot on shares and buy some feed in and it is handy to know what you are short of or long on. We then use that to adjust our custom mineral. We do a lot of our heifer development on winter grazing so we sample the grass too. Mineral can be a tough one when its' free choice though. Hard to tell who is getting enough and who has not enough. We run a pretty extensive vaccination program as well (Express/Pyramid and 8 Way). Pretty cheap insurance. I have even heard stories this spring (it is wet here) of cattle dying from Blackleg.
