• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

mineral $ per head per year?

We use Vigortone range mineral, and feed it free choice year round. The cows consume about 2-3 oz per head per day. After we started using this mineral (thanks to Faster Horses), we have had better conception rates. I don't want to step on any toes, but they limit feed them, as to when they can have mineral and when they can't. I fail to see how this is good for the animal. He stated that the cows eat and eat and eat on the mineral when it is finally made available. Don't get me wrong I am all for saving money where we can in our operation, but we have to take care of the cows if we want them to work for us. I already have two jobs, I am NOT WORKING FOR MY COWS!
I usually have a tag for it kicking around, but not sure where. If your real keen on the formulation, I'll look for a tag. It's a 1:1 Ca/Phos blend, No salt, all chelated minerals, high level of zinc. Made nearby in Minnesota for this specific region of Ontario, NW Minnesota, SE Manitoba and NE North Dakota, under the name Northern Feeds. It is their Beef Breeding mineral.

My neighbor is a dealer for them and got me onto it. I've had a devil of a time finding the right mineral over the years. It costs around $36-$42 a 55 lb bag, but it did jump up to the $50 mark (for a while) a little over a year ago.

I don't give 365 day access to it. No way. Ever. Too much waste. I become very stingy with it during the winter. As of this point, I probably haven't given any in a couple of weeks(maybe close to 3), but I am due too. Big snowstorms cover mineral and get it wet (even in covered tubs, etc), and the cows don't like it.

The only time I get real crazy on mineral is a month pre-breeding and all through breeding season (35-42 days). During that time, the animals are never without mineral and if they want to eat 20 oz. a head, they are free to do so. I want everything bred within 2 cycles, and 95% of the cows will cycle at least once or twice before they get exposed.

So running late spring and early fall calving herds, the cows only get their full, unending supply of mineral approx. 2 1/2 months of the year. After that period, I put it out every 2 weeks or so, and they must clean it up, or I get real stingy the 2nd time around.

I don't get huge numbers of open cows. Some years I have none, some years one or maybe even two. Mind you I am a savage when it comes to culling cows and if a cow makes it to 10 years here, she should be stuffed and mounted when she keels over because she is worth her weight in gold.

For salt, I use both the Hi-Iodine (EDDI) salt and the Hi-Selenium Salt made by American Stockman. I really am impressed with the quality and price of them. Only a buck or two jump over straight useless blue salt for me. I doubt I spend much over $100 a year on salt.

I always feed salt and mineral separate, never together.
Click to expand...
When the animal gorges itself on 20oz of mineral it shows that, in my mind, have been deprived. When the cow is pregnant they need the minerals for her and the calf. I fail to understand what value the cow gets when she eats and eats and eats. A certain percent of those vitamins and minerals are not going to get used in the system of that animal. It is just like humans, for example when a person, mostly women, consume too much calcium your body cannot use all of it, so it is past through the body into the urine, and then is excreted from the body. Same goes for the cows, when they eat and exorbant amount of that mineral, a certain percent as i mentioned, will be wasted. We spend around $40/head on mineral every year. And when that mineral costs $36-$40 a bad, I am not for waste. If we are going to make the cows work for us, we have to help ourselves to some extent. I am not critizing just throwing my thoughts out there.
 
Ben H said:
Not sure about per head, but what I'm using is just over $1000/ton at this time. I'm looking to switch to something with IGR before the flys start.
Click to expand...

Ben

Talk with Dana Brown about mineral. You might be able to shave $200 off a ton. Dana should be one of the sponsors of the grass conference.
 
MNFarmgirl--cattle eat mineral in peaks and valleys depending on the
rest of the forage they are on. You should figure mineral consumption for
the YEAR, not for a day, a week or even a month. We have a customer
who gets his mineral bulk, in an overhead bin. We knew when he filled that
bin and how much and we knew when it was empty. We knew how many
cows he had and when we figured the winter consumption for 6 months,
the consumption was right on target...3.5 oz/per head/per day. If we
figured free-choice mineral on a daily basis, it would drive us nuts...
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Vigortone has done ranch trials (yes, trials done on ranches and not
in controlled situations) in the past and documented an extra 30
lbs. of weight gain on the calves. That comes about partly because of the calves eating it in the summer.
It stimulates their rumen and helps them be able to digest more forage because of the rumen activity.
Of course the way cattle gain weight is to eat more. That's why the IGR enhances weight
gain, the cattle can graze instead of being bunched up fighting flies.

We just had the IGR rep at our annual appreciation dinner and he told
us to start feeding the IGR a MONTH before fly season and for a month
afterward. That was news to us, as we thought 2 weeks ahead was adequate. What he said made sense. We need to keep AHEAD of the flies,
and we don't need them to winter over, that's why it's necessary to feed
it a month longer in the fall.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Orwigs are the only supp we use also-usually when they are out on stockpiled grass-they are the only one that cattle stop eating as the forage improves. Justin do you use the straight mineral one or the ones that have some protein. You can spot them out in areas now that you won't be able to access when the cows are out there. If the snow goes here we should be done feeding by April 1st there's a pretty good stockpile left. By midMay here if we get any moisture and no hard frosts you can hear the grass grow-18-20 hours of daylight help that quite a bit.
Click to expand...

i use the the #9 breeder, i believe it is 18% protein
 
PATB said:
Ben H said:
Not sure about per head, but what I'm using is just over $1000/ton at this time. I'm looking to switch to something with IGR before the flys start.
Click to expand...

Ben

Talk with Dana Brown about mineral. You might be able to shave $200 off a ton. Dana should be one of the sponsors of the grass conference.
Click to expand...

I've told him I was interested a few times, but he hasn't followed up.
 
Ben H said:
PATB said:
Ben H said:
Not sure about per head, but what I'm using is just over $1000/ton at this time. I'm looking to switch to something with IGR before the flys start.
Click to expand...

Ben

Talk with Dana Brown about mineral. You might be able to shave $200 off a ton. Dana should be one of the sponsors of the grass conference.
Click to expand...

I've told him I was interested a few times, but he hasn't followed up.
Click to expand...

He is supposed to be at the grass conference promoting his products. I want to see about changing the formulation on my mineral mix and reduceing the phosphorus in the mix. Most of the hay fields and pastures ae high in phosphorus.
 
What about mixing salt and the mineral? (assuming the mineral mix is void of salt). Do you have to have salt in the mineral in order for the cows to eat it?
Or could you leave the mineral out and also put put a salt block?
Thoughts?
 
PATB said:
Ben H said:
PATB said:
Ben

Talk with Dana Brown about mineral. You might be able to shave $200 off a ton. Dana should be one of the sponsors of the grass conference.
Click to expand...

I've told him I was interested a few times, but he hasn't followed up.
Click to expand...

He is supposed to be at the grass conference promoting his products. I want to see about changing the formulation on my mineral mix and reduceing the phosphorus in the mix. Most of the hay fields and pastures ae high in phosphorus.
Click to expand...

Does your buyer make any label claims that would prevent you from using IGR in your mineral? http://www.altosidigr.com/
 
jillaroo said:
What about mixing salt and the mineral? (assuming the mineral mix is void of salt). Do you have to have salt in the mineral in order for the cows to eat it?
Or could you leave the mineral out and also put put a salt block?
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

There are a few schools of thoughts on this. Some people claim to feed minerals ala carte style and let them consume what they need of each. I haven't been sold on this. You can buy minerals with salt already in, or mix it yourself. I guess there could be reasons why you'd change the ratio, but I buy it all mixed. I just want to open the bag and dump it in the feeder.
 
Ben, by ala carte, do you mean put different trace minerals in a
feeder where they are all separte and the cows are supposed to eat
what they are short of? If so, there was a mineral company that tried that
in our area. They went around selling thier mineral feeders.
What they found out was cattle eat what is at each end of the
feeder first.

We tell our customers to never hand mix salt with the mineral. You
can't mix it well enough. Cattle might get their salt requirement for a
week and not get their mineral requirement for a day. The company
that mixes the mineral with salt has all kinds of machinery to mix it properly.We reccommend ranchers buy loose salt and put it beside the mineral in a different tub. I have yet to find out
what salt does for a cow on a daily basis, other than as a limiter. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Something else that I wonder about that I am going to throw out here:

Some want to mix salt so heavily (sometimes 1/2 and 1/2) with the mineral, giving cows 1/2 their daily mineral requirements. You wouldn't give a cow a half a vaccine and expect it to work, would you?
 
Yes, that's what I mean by ala carte.
Limiter is what I understand the salt being used before.
This summer I needed some minerals and the local feed store only had minerals without salt, so I bought it and straight salt. I used a cement mixer to mix it, I think it was mixed pretty well.
 
I guess I'm of the school of thought that not having an adequate mineral program will cost way more than twenty or thirty bucks. An adequate program is very dependant on what your personal resources provide.
 
Ben H said:
PATB said:
Ben H said:
I've told him I was interested a few times, but he hasn't followed up.
Click to expand...

He is supposed to be at the grass conference promoting his products. I want to see about changing the formulation on my mineral mix and reduceing the phosphorus in the mix. Most of the hay fields and pastures ae high in phosphorus.
Click to expand...

Does your buyer make any label claims that would prevent you from using IGR in your mineral? http://www.altosidigr.com/
Click to expand...

Ben

Their are several of us waiting for an answer on the IGR question. I will need to know when I order the next ton of mineral.
 
PATB said:
Their are several of us waiting for an answer on the IGR question. I will need to know when I order the next ton of mineral.
Click to expand...

Scientifically, it's kinda dumb not to allow it. The stuff doesn't leave the digestive system and it reduces fly pressure so you don't need all kinds of pesticides to keep the girls happy. I used to use Vigilante boluses, but that stuff will kill your developing dung beetles. I think ClariFly is the same drug, I'd personally stay away from it. IGR won't hurt your dung beetles. I have good face fly control with the Fly Killer Kover on my mineral feeder, but it doesn't help with horn flys on the back. IGR won't help with flace flys so I think it will be a good combo. The horn flys on the back of your cows looked pretty similar to what I started seeing with mine this summer. Hopefully you'll at least have the option of using it.
 
Ben H said:
PATB said:
Their are several of us waiting for an answer on the IGR question. I will need to know when I order the next ton of mineral.
Click to expand...

Scientifically, it's kinda dumb not to allow it. The stuff doesn't leave the digestive system and it reduces fly pressure so you don't need all kinds of pesticides to keep the girls happy. I used to use Vigilante boluses, but that stuff will kill your developing dung beetles. I think ClariFly is the same drug, I'd personally stay away from it. IGR won't hurt your dung beetles. I have good face fly control with the Fly Killer Kover on my mineral feeder, but it doesn't help with horn flys on the back. IGR won't help with flace flys so I think it will be a good combo. The horn flys on the back of your cows looked pretty similar to what I started seeing with mine this summer. Hopefully you'll at least have the option of using it.
Click to expand...

Well I used it one summer and it did'nt work well for me we have neighboring cattle at all angles.I did'nt see a real benefit in my situation.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top