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Mineral program for cows

D

Decker

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
56
Location
Mirror, Alberta
Just wondering what kind of mineral program you all have in different parts of the country. I switched over to Cargill type mineral this fall and the cows really go after it at the start but after awhile they just go to the mineral once in awhile. It also is very resistant to weather such as rain and snow.
 
vigortone is over priced, and clumpy. not very palatable for cows, and has been known to cause abortions.

I am sure Faster Horses will back me up on this ! :wink: :wink:











just kidding F H I am actually ordering some for this year.
 
1:1 is a ratio that is no longer recommended, and hasn't been for some time. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but only feed companies sell 1-1 and that is because they aren't on top of things, IMO. I'm not saying there might be an exception to the rule as a special situation that calls for it. I never sell any 1:1 mineral. Mostly I sell 2-1 or 3-1. A lot of ranchers are really happy with this blend.

Nutritionists will tell you that 2-1, 3-1 even 6-1 is the recommended ratio. The NRC has been cutting the phos recommendations for some time now. Some feedlots feed NO phosphorus and the cattle do just fine.

Please ask if you have other questions.

And jigs, I don't know what I'm doing here, you do such a fine
job! :wink: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :nod:
Seriously, I'm glad you are getting some Vigortone in. You will be
very pleased.

I just heard today of a producer in Nebraska that has lost 10 calves
on Accuration. They ran out of hay and filled up on that...guess there isn't much fiber in it...anyway, they sure perished.
 
If you are feeding grain, corn, DDG, etc. you don't need a mineral that is high in Phos, because those feeds contain a lot of phos. With a free-choice mineral combined with these type of feed (even Wheat hay) the
phos in the feed will keep the cattle from eating enough mineral. Through listening to our customers we have found cattle won't over eat phos unless it is being force fed. Phos is the most expensive ingredient in mineral, so why buy it when you don't need it.

We had a customer that was feeding straight Wheat hay to his cows and they were going down. He called the vet and the vet went out. He thought the cows had milk fever...only thing was...they hadn't calved yet. I did some research and found the cows had WINTER TETNANY. It is like
gress tetnany...mineral imbalance. Those cows weren't eating our
2-1 cal to phos mineral, so we got some 3-1 with Magnesium for them. They started eating that, and the problem was solved. They just needed more trace minerals, more magnesium as with grass tetnany.

What are you feeding?
 
IFA and our vet set up a deal for me and my neighbors, IFA tested hay and the vet drawing blood. We preg testing tomorrow and my herd health plan with APHIS requires me to bleed for bangs too as all the elk here. So vet will take some blood samples also for mineral defeasances and IFA will use the hay and blood to make a local custom mix, which they suggest 45 to 60 days before calving thru calving, and if precondition calves 30 days before weaning
 
We are on vigortone pretty much year round (Assuming I make sure to pick it up at the elevator).. I think we run 3v5 during the summer and than 3v0 over the winter because we really don't need the phos.. The only think I worry about is mag in the spring.. When we were using a pelleted balancer from a dealer to the north of us we had one case of tetney.. ONly case we have ever had... If I remember correctly we switched real fast to feeding the Mag. mineral and than added calcium to the diet to balance out the too high phosph from Corn Gluten.. I trusted the guy with the high paying nutrtionist job to balance it out for me.. Okay, it helped that he was the neighbors son and worked for a good size company in Wisconsin.

Neighbor is pushing Moormons on us right now, telling me the prices have come down since we quit them a few years back... I did like their mineral back than but it was just too much money.. I think he wants me to kick in with him so he can get a bigger bulk discount, lol.
 
I am going to feed free choice on two year old barley straw with a little alfalfa grass hay, I also have free choice promolas tubs. In the last trimester I was going to feed a good alfalfa hay.
 
I haven't fed larger cows this ration before but they will probably eat 25lbs of staw and about 15 pound of hay per day. Of course depending on the weather and how cold it gets as to how much hay I will feed and maybe have to give some grain.
 

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