cow mineral

[chaser]

Was wondering what would be good mineral mix for cows calving mid february. What is better loose mineral or lick tubs? Also whats thought on mineral with rumensin in . thanks

[grassfarmer]

I guess it depends what you think your mineral
problems are. Lick tubs are always cost prohibitive in
my experience. We winter the cows on trace mineral
salt blocks but use some loose mineral through the
summer mainly to get some reseeding done. We don't
calve in February but I'm not sure how much that
really changes mineral requirements.
For any of you in central AB the Viterra outlet in
Ponoka is the best place I've found for minerals/salt.
Trace mineral blocks with selenium are currently
$8.85 where many places are quoting $12 .

[ALLFARMER]

With loose mineral you will get better uptake. Lick
tubs need to be supplied at a ratio of about 40
head to 1 tub. If not used at this ratio the intake
will be too high or too low. Mainly the problem is
too little intake because the tubs are frozen solid.

If using loose mineral take away the blocks or I
have been told cattle can end up with to much
selenium.

We bought a pallet of loose mineral a month ago
and man are the girls going thru it! But if you
cheap out you soon will have limping cows.

[grassfarmer]

Really? which mineral are you so short of that the
cows limp if they don't get enough?

[ALLFARMER]

Organic iodine

[forage]

The most economical I find is the salt free mineral from COOP and loose cobalt salt mixed together , 1 bag to 1 bag. The cattle only intake what they need never any problems with excess intake. The tubs are like watching a old cash register wheel go round and round a hundred miles an hour.

[ASRG]

forage: I use exactly the same as you from Co-op.

[grassfarmer]

Thats what I use through the breeding season -
except it comes from the Ponoka outlet I mentioned -
mineral is @$17/bag versus what $23ish at the Coop?
They make the mineral that UFA retails for about $25
so you may as well buy direct.

[forage]

The great about this is you can add to it with extra magnesium or calicum,etc.
I even add extra phosphorous during breeding time . I also add silent herder a week before they head into spring tame grass, sure eliminates grass tend. ,well it time to catch forty winks before the next night shift sstarts.

[ALLFARMER]

Ufa sells a iodine fortified salt block for like $11/ea
If you contact the ufa provincial nutritionist and
send him in your mineral tag he will compare it
with the products ufa sells. He sent me back a
spreadsheet with a cost/head/day comparison
what I am using to what they sell. This was a
couple years ago and at the time my cost was
0.09$/day and the closest ufa had was 0.14$ and
it was not as good of stuff. He said our local feed
mill was selling actually an illegal product. He said
that high of nutrients in a mineral are not
supposed to be sold unless it is a special batch
for signal producer. I don't remember if we were
supposed to have a vets approval or not.

Northern Complete winter mineral has

5000 mg/kg of copper
150 mg/kg of iodine
3000 fluorine
5500 iron
8000 manganese
100 selenium
13000 zinc
1200000 vitamin a
120000 vit d
3000 vit e

Cost/tonne $1760

If your having problems with your cattle Champion
Feeds in Westlock has a Beef Cattle Mineral
Deficiency table that they put out. If you want I
could email it to you. Maybe today I should learn
how to use photo bucket. Anyone what to post the
directions again?

The minimum recommended level for iodine is 0.5
mg/kg of diet. The max. Tolerable is 50 mg/kg

[ALLFARMER]

Alberta Ag publishes a "The Beef cow-calf
manual" It's a very good resource for its
money....like 25 or 30$

310-farm

[ALLFARMER]

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[smcgrath76]

The simpler way if you have a good mill
around is to test your feed, and buy a
custom mix. We use Greenbelt Farms at
Wainwright and are super happy. The
mineral program we are on with them is
quite a bit cheaper than UFA salt and
works better. We do pickup the product
in minibulk bags (tonne at a time).
They can bag it but it costs a fair bit
more.
This covers issues such as high Phos in
land that has been continually swath
grazed (add Ca to mineral), or ration or
local weather issues affecting quality.
Would have to get our last bill out but
it is a very small investment per head
per day.

[grassfarmer]

Most of the minerals you listed are a little higher than
in the one I use Allfarmer. However we have no
fertility or performance concerns with our herd that
would interest me in moving to a $1760/T mineral
versus a $915/T mineral.

[ALLFARMER]

I'll have to see if the coop here sells mineral.