Minerals... Loose vs. Block

[MN Farm Girl]

Hey got a question for you guys. We feed loose Vigortone mineral and it works wonderfully. We feed it free choice. The question nagging at me is what are the advantages of the loose mineral compared to the block forms. My boyfriend's family is using the mineral blocks and all the cows do is stand and lick and lick and lick. Personally I don't believe they are getting enough mineral if they stand and just lick. I know some of you use vigortone and other loose minerals. For those of you that use the block form, I would like some feedback.

 

[Faster horses]

You are right in your thinking they don't get enough out of a block.
Vigortone makes nothing in a block because of this very reason.

A young man got a grant and what he did was check how much
mineral, salt, etc was consumed out of a block. He put the
blocks in an enclosure where the cattle had to come to water.
He had one of those clicker/counters and he clicked every time
a cow took a lick. He found it took something like 3000 licks to
get an ounce of mineral, salt, etc. The cows got tired and left
before they reached their daily requirement of mineral.

Hope this helps!

 

[Justin]

i feel that a cow is not going to get what she needs from that block in the amount of time she is willing to stand there and lick on it. i think ya gotta go with loose mineral.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I think you answered your own question.

 

[LCP]

What about in feedlot cattle? They don't have a whole lot to do all day. We also have trouble with the bulls tipping over whatever container we put out salt and mineral in anyhow...they often get a block rather than loose when they aren't with the cows. Maybe somebody has a "bull-proof" salt feeder they've invented?

 

[MN Farm Girl]

I am trying to give them reasons as to why switching to loose form pays. And my reasons were not enough. So I am looking for more reasons from more people to try and let them know of the benefits. Now a block has the same amount of mineral as loose???? Just wondering of the nutritional benefits.

 

[Grassfarmer]

Guess it depends if they want or need to get their cows to eat more minerals? Nothing wrong with blocks as far as I'm concerned. We use trace mineral salt blocks on everything from the time we pull bulls in September through to early June. June-Sept. they get cheap loose mineral and salt 50:50. Works just fine for us. Maybe some of the folks with the Angus cattle need to check their tongues - to see if there are any rough parts on them. :wink: :lol: On the odd occasion our cows have had a protein tub we find a 250lb tub gets licked away in about a day and a half with 80 cows. Our cows can sure lick plenty when they need to.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

What about in feedlot cattle? They don't have a whole lot to do all day. We also have trouble with the bulls tipping over whatever container we put out salt and mineral in anyhow...they often get a block rather than loose when they aren't with the cows. Maybe somebody has a "bull-proof" salt feeder they've invented?

LCP check this one out.
http://www.vigortone.com/equipment/DuraBull_mineral_feeder.htm

 

[LCP]

I think blocks are a bit more expensive per lb of product than loose. Besides those empty bags make lighting the burn barrel easier

 

[leanin' H]

We use blocks all summer because the country we salt in is pretty rough and the blocks are easier to pack in with horses. Plus the blocks handle the weather better sitting on a ridge or saddle where we place them to pull the cows up out of the bottoms of the canyons. When we wean the calves each fall they go home to precondition till February. They get free choice mineral/protein tubs. When the cows get home in late December they get the same. They hit the mineral tubs hard for a month and then just go for the protein tubs. Almost like they get caught up on what they need mineral wise. They use the mineral a lot more prior to and after calving for the obvious reason. The First calf heifers get mineral all the time to help them through what is a cows most difficult time in life. So both work well for us.

 

[Anonymous]

I use loose mineral when the cows are out on summer and fall pasture-usually won't use much until the grass drys out or closer to fall-but when I move them down onto the river bottom for the winter I have to give them Mineral lick tubs- or they won't consume any as our water has so much salt and mineral in it... Don't really worry so much all winter til closer to calving and spring grass time when I want to make sure they have plenty of magnesium....

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

We use blocks all summer because the country we salt in is pretty rough and the blocks are easier to pack in with horses. Plus the blocks handle the weather better sitting on a ridge or saddle where we place them to pull the cows up out of the bottoms of the canyons. When we wean the calves each fall they go home to precondition till February. They get free choice mineral/protein tubs. When the cows get home in late December they get the same. They hit the mineral tubs hard for a month and then just go for the protein tubs. Almost like they get caught up on what they need mineral wise. They use the mineral a lot more prior to and after calving for the obvious reason. The First calf heifers get mineral all the time to help them through what is a cows most difficult time in life. So both work well for us.

I wonder if in your drier country the cattle get more mineral out of the grass than in a higher rain fall area like Minnesota?

Possibly your cows get more mineral out of the pebbles they carry around in their mouths to keep from getting thirsty. :wink:

 

[leanin' H]

We use blocks all summer because the country we salt in is pretty rough and the blocks are easier to pack in with horses. Plus the blocks handle the weather better sitting on a ridge or saddle where we place them to pull the cows up out of the bottoms of the canyons. When we wean the calves each fall they go home to precondition till February. They get free choice mineral/protein tubs. When the cows get home in late December they get the same. They hit the mineral tubs hard for a month and then just go for the protein tubs. Almost like they get caught up on what they need mineral wise. They use the mineral a lot more prior to and after calving for the obvious reason. The First calf heifers get mineral all the time to help them through what is a cows most difficult time in life. So both work well for us.

I wonder if in your drier country the cattle get more mineral out of the grass than in a higher rain fall area like Minnesota?

Possibly your cows get more mineral out of the pebbles they carry around in their mouths to keep from getting thirsty. :wink:

Thanks for getting me to blow perfectly good iced tea all over my monitor! You missed your true calling as a dang standup comedian goofball! :lol: :lol:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

We use blocks all summer because the country we salt in is pretty rough and the blocks are easier to pack in with horses. Plus the blocks handle the weather better sitting on a ridge or saddle where we place them to pull the cows up out of the bottoms of the canyons. When we wean the calves each fall they go home to precondition till February. They get free choice mineral/protein tubs. When the cows get home in late December they get the same. They hit the mineral tubs hard for a month and then just go for the protein tubs. Almost like they get caught up on what they need mineral wise. They use the mineral a lot more prior to and after calving for the obvious reason. The First calf heifers get mineral all the time to help them through what is a cows most difficult time in life. So both work well for us.

I wonder if in your drier country the cattle get more mineral out of the grass than in a higher rain fall area like Minnesota?

Possibly your cows get more mineral out of the pebbles they carry around in their mouths to keep from getting thirsty. :wink:

Thanks for getting me to blow perfectly good iced tea all over my monitor! You missed your true calling as a dang standup comedian goofball! :lol: :lol:

Glad i could be of service.

 

[Faster horses]

Since they cannot get enough out of a block to met their mineral
requirements, what does it matter what it contains?

For instance, the old school of thought was that we need 15% or 12%
phosphorus. That thinking has gone by the wayside, because cattle
will not eat enough of that high phos mineral to get the trace minerals
they require. That has come from various nutritionists. They recommend 2-1, 3-1 and even 6-1 in certain situations.

One thing to remember is "cattle eat grams not percentages."
Does not matter what the tag says if they won't eat the product.

I wonder if blocks contain yeast culture and Vit. E which are very
important to the cattle.

 

[Grassfarmer]

Since they cannot get enough out of a block to met their mineral
requirements, what does it matter what it contains?

Who says they can't get enough out of a block? Your researcher with his grant money - where did the grant money come from - was it a loose mineral sales company perhaps? :wink: :lol: :lol:
What is the objective here anyway - getting maximum mineral consumption or adequate mineral consumption? The original poster was looking for a way to persuade someone else to quit feeding blocks and start feeding loose - looking for a reason being the relevant part - no mention of the herd being plagued with open cows, ill health etc or likely they would have been looking at different options. Oldtimer is concerned his water has too much salt and mineral for his cows so he has to give them his cows minerals in another form. Maybe his cows get all they need from the water? Has anybody thought or asked what the cow wants or needs? don't you think she is best placed to decide?
As for cost - we buy trace mineral salt blocks at @$10 for 20kg versus $35-$40 for 25kgs of loose mineral. Consumption of blocks is lower and it provides salt as well - no contest which is more economic on my place when both work equally well.

 

[RSL]

We have switched to using loose mineral because we get it custom mixed to match our feed and pasture. We control intake through providing specific weights of mineral over time, although certainly not perfectly.
Our breeding mix is fairly expensive, but I figured out our last regular mix and it worked out cheaper than blue salt at the local farm store.
I don't think we will move away from a custom mix, so it is loose mineral for us.

 

[Anonymous]

Since they cannot get enough out of a block to met their mineral
requirements, what does it matter what it contains?

Who says they can't get enough out of a block? Your researcher with his grant money - where did the grant money come from - was it a loose mineral sales company perhaps? :wink: :lol: :lol:
What is the objective here anyway - getting maximum mineral consumption or adequate mineral consumption? The original poster was looking for a way to persuade someone else to quit feeding blocks and start feeding loose - looking for a reason being the relevant part - no mention of the herd being plagued with open cows, ill health etc or likely they would have been looking at different options. Oldtimer is concerned his water has too much salt and mineral for his cows so he has to give them his cows minerals in another form. Maybe his cows get all they need from the water? Has anybody thought or asked what the cow wants or needs? don't you think she is best placed to decide?
As for cost - we buy trace mineral salt blocks at @$10 for 20kg versus $35-$40 for 25kgs of loose mineral. Consumption of blocks is lower and it provides salt as well - no contest which is more economic on my place when both work equally well.

I think you may be right about them getting enough mineral--exept for the fact I have had a couple run ins with grass tetany so know they need magnesium ...The reason I usually only give them the mineral tubs a few weeks before green grass starts coming...
I wouldn't probably even do that if I knew another way to get some magnesium into them....

 

[John SD]

I admit I neglected to check the cow's mineral supply after I got started haying this summer and the cows were out of mineral. So I went out a few days ago with some more Vigortone.

I probably should have put out some salt first for the cows in one pasture. That bunch of cows was drinking from a newer dam that has been filled for the first time this year. They just went nuts over the mineral I put out.

The other bunch of cows was out of mineral too but they were drinking on a creek between old established dams. I think the alkalai must have satisfied their need for salt. They probably aren't getting the ideal mineral balance, but they weren't craving the mineral like the other herd was.

 

[PATB]

We use SE90 mineralized salt from tractor supply company. We have used both loose and block forms of mineral/salt in the past. It all comes down to cost and the SE 90 is one third the cost of named brand mineral mixes.