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Multimin taking place of sack mineral

4Diamond

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Worked a bunch of pairs for a neighbor yesterday and gave every animal a multimin shot. He told us he was no longer going to feed a mineral and that shot would give them all they needed. I saw 4 minerals listed on the box, not that impressive to me.

Has anyone else done that?

I have heard of giving calves the shot as a boost or pick me up.
 
My ranch hands down here are firm believers in injectable vitamins for both cattle and hogs. I honestly don't know if it makes a significant difference versus mineral blocks etc but the costs are really low and the guys feel they've done the right thing.

If I can find one of the packages of that stuff here at the house I'll list out the vitamins it's supposed to contain.
 
From what I have learned, it might not hurt but is no substitute for feeding mineral. It needs to be given more than once a year, more like at least 4 times a year. Also it contains no calcium or phos; mainly Multimin is a very poor way to try to distribute mineral. First there is no vit. And very little mineral in it and second you have to get your cattle into a chute 3 or 4 times a year

It provides some manganese, zinc, selenium and/or copper. I think you need a prescription to get it.
 
I would think it is probably better than nothing - - - If you were to buy some that had been shorted you could give the shot and then start them on a good program.
 
George said:
I would think it is probably better than nothing - - - If you were to buy some that had been shorted you could give the shot and then start them on a good program.

For a situation like that it might be a quick fix until you could make a good balanced mineral available. Sort of like giving B12 shots...short lasting but effective for a day or so. Cattle need a good loose mineral available and as FH said it's a lot easier than penning and injecting everything with something some don't even need.
 
Wasn't my place to say anything but I didn't agree with his theory. All I am there for is to sort and keep the alley full....
 
I gave a shot to all my heifers before bull turnout hoping to increase conception like the label claims. I had them eating all the loose mineral they want to consume, so probably was a waste of money. I thought it would maybe work but our conception rate was no different than previous years. Don't believe I will spend the money again, not too mention the stuff is fairly expensive IMHO.

Probably would really work for you if you weren't on a mineral program.
 
I agree with some that it might work good on a set of neglected cattle to supplement a mineral program, but if they are on good mineral my vet says it's probably a waste of time and money.

I have heard of guys giving it to calves at weaning time as somewhat of a stress eliminator.
 
Works well at birth for areas lacking naturally in selenium . My problem is I can’t find info on when it’s safe to put them back on loose mineral after an injection of multi min.
 
Works well at birth for areas lacking naturally in selenium . My problem is I can't find info on when it's safe to put them back on loose mineral after an injection of multi min.
To my knowledge, there isn't much mineral in it, anyway, not enough to last very long. I don't think you would need to worry about starting them back on bagged mineral.
I haven't heard much of multi-min of late. Has it more or less gone by the wayside?
 
Thanks. just the selenium
It was recommended to me so I’ve used it with some pretty good results on newborns but haven’t tried it yet on rest of the herd .
Time will tell.
 
rather keep mineral out in front of cows year round, back in Star Valley , we was in DHI so we bleed cows anyway. We take a extra sample every tenth cow. we took hay samples and forage. had a custom mineral worked up a high Phos , max selenium , high copper mineral, (West and South of they had a natural (Too much Selenium) toxicity issue. We had part of it with Biomos used before and during calving.
Over here in NE Wyoming most the mixes have been worked out over the years, High Cal, Low Phos. low to no Selenium. I feel there less issues keeping mineral in front of cows , calves and ewes constantly. we get a pallets or 2 of fly mineral we start early in spring thru till fall frost. There times we have to mix salt to up consumption and other times to limit consumption.
 
I have never used MultiMin 90. But people I have talked with that use it seem to feel it is useful for stress situations, like
weaning and shipping. I always understood selenium and vitamin E should be used in combination to aid in absorption.
I don't see how this could replace a good mineral supplement. And the fact that is not safe for pregnant cows during the first
3(?) months of their pregnancy. If something isn't approved for a pregnant cow I try to avoid using it.
 
Thanks. just the selenium
It was recommended to me so I've used it with some pretty good results on newborns but haven't tried it yet on rest of the herd .
Time will tell.
Feeding a year-round mineral program results in enhanced, better colostrum, which is VERY important. In fact, it is of utmost importance when talking about calf health. That's where a calf's immunity comes from. That's one reason a year-round mineral program is important.
 
We use the MultiMin 2 times. New born calves get it and at weaning. Cows have been on a mineral program but B does it to his new born calves. He has been here a lot of years and does that to his calves so I follow the leader. At weaning the calves have just come off range where it is questionable as to how much minerals they have had. It does seem to significantly reduce health issues on those fresh weaned calves.
 
Several years ago, my vet highly recommended MultiMin and that I give the newborn calves a shot also. I used to give the cows spring and fall shots and kept the mineral recommended by my feed salesman and salt out free choice all year. Last year, I took forage samples from all my pastures as well as a few hay samples and sent them to a lab for analysis. When the results came back, I averaged the results and spent most of one day trying to relearn algebra and attempting to convert all the ppm's into a 30 lb dry weight basis. (just a wild guess as to what each cow might eat in a day). After I (hopefully) had calculated the amount of added elements my cows needed to consume per day as well as how much salt my cows had historically eaten, I found that a local feed store carried a custom salt-mineral blend that appears to be close to ideal. We replaced our old salt and mineral with that, kept out free choice and skipped giving the MultiMin shot to the cows. The changes cut our mineral supplement costs by more than half. The cows look and bred up very good and our calves weighed up well at weaning. If the calves arrive healthy and vigorous this spring, I'll count it as a win! I'll probably keep giving the newborn calves a shot but chalk it up as one of those rituals we do "just because"!
 

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