I'll be calving less then 20. No, I'm not forgetings a zero. This summer I started using a free choice mineral mix for beef cattle. I buy it with the salt in it to regulate intake. There is room for improvement in how and when I give it to them. I'm sure IBR is one of the things covered with Cattlemaster/Bovishield that we have been using. I considered the pinkeye vaccination this spring but ended up not bothering. I didn't want to spend the money on a problem I'd never had. STUPID move.
The thought has crossed my mind to let you people handle the cow-calf and go with stockers durring the grazing season.
Minerals is something I've thought about with the immune system for a while. I work for a company that injects goats with human antigens, the goats have an immune response and create antibodies against the antigens. We then bring the serum to the lab (red blood cells get mixed with saline and returned to goats) where it is refined to be monospecific (contains only one anitbody) We produce Anti IgA, IgG, IgM, Albumin, Heptaglobin, Transferring, and a bunch more.
The husbandry is done by another company we lease the facility from, we own the goats. I want to audit the feed, put the numbers in my computer, specfically looking to see if the mineral balance is being met. The recieve grain and hay. From my experience, it's hard to meet the micronutrient requirements without a free-choice mineral. The hay certainly doesn't cut it, and feed companies are limited on what they can add to the grain. They feed a plain white salt block in the feeders, I know that doesn't help. If the micro-nutriend balance isn't being met, I can't see how the immune system can function to it's fullest potential. Anyone remember exactly what minerals effect the immune system?