Could salt be the answer to your feed costs?

Cattle producers, like any other business, are always looking for ways to reduce costs. As any producer will tell you there is no greater expense than that feed costs. A management tool used quite often to regulate feed intake is using salt. Though it can have some impact regulating feed intake with salt is not precise and will require some tinkering in order to get it right.

An interesting thing about this nutrient is that cattle have a natural “urge” to consume it. What this means is that unlike other minerals they will actually seek it out. If for some reason they are not able to find it then they will try to ingest it from other sources. This is when you will see cattle eating odd things such as tree bark, dirt, and even urine.

It is very important for the overall function of cattle. Along with adding in milk production, it will assist with other functions too. These functions are things like reproduction, blood flow, and even sweating. Though I am pretty sure that the last one should be pretty obvious.

Is salt necessary for cattle?

Without going into too much detail the answer to this question is a resounding YES. It is a very important nutrient needed for the general functioning of cattle. In this way, it makes them not that much different from us people.

Salt is a necessary mineral for cattle and one that they need to consume on a daily basis. Now, this does not mean that you will have to force feed this or anything since most of what they normally eat contains it. They are able to derive it naturally from things like the forages they consume in the pasture. In fact, depending on where your ranch is located, they could even get a small amount from the water that they drink.

Since they will need to consume it on a daily basis it is a good idea for you to monitor the amount they are eating. This will ensure that they are getting it in the amounts that they are needing. A deficiency in this can lead to things like a loss of appetite. Once they get that then it can lead to things like weight loss and a decrease in production.

Salt does not just help out just the cow, it is also necessary for the calf that she will have nursing. As I mentioned earlier salt helps out with milk production. The sodium found in salt helps both cow and calf with the absorption of calcium too.

The fact that they will seek it out can also be helpful to you the producer as well. You can use it as a top dressing or in a mixture to get them to consume other minerals that they need.

What are their requirements?

The amount of salt that your cows will need to consume will depend on their age and their stage of production. For example, a dry mature cow will not need as much as one that is in the early lactating stage.

But how much exactly do they need? Well, research conducted by the University of Missouri says that the maximum level advisable is 0.08% of the dry matter intake for dry cows and 0.1% for lactating cows.

A general rule of thumb is that cattle will need to consume 0.005% to 0.010% of their body weight as salt daily. For a 1,200-lb cow that means she needs to take in between 0.06 to 0.12lbs of salt daily.

The type of feed that cows are eating can also affect the amount of salt that they will need to take in from other sources. Cows tend to eat more salt with a high-forage diet vs a high-concentrate one.

It should also be noted that they will also consume more when the grass is “green and succulent” vs ones that are in the mature stage of growth. This is due to there being less available in the younger forages.

Salt toxicity

I would be a bit negligent if I talked about the requirements of salt if I did not at least mention toxicity. Now, toxicity is rarely seen in cattle because of their high tolerance for salt. Salt is rapidly absorbed from the intestinal tract into the bloodstream. After that, it is excreted by the kidneys through urine.  If there is plenty of clean water available the cow will have no problem eliminating any excess. But the lethal dose for a mature cow is 4-5lbs of salt.

There are 3 cases where salt toxicity is likely to occur. One scenario is where cattle have been deprived of salt for a long period of time and then suddenly have salt readily available. The next is if cattle are forced to eat too much salt with an inadequate amount of water available. In addition, cattle are forced to drink saline water.

Using salt to control the intake

Using salt to control intake isn’t an exact science, as mentioned earlier. Factors such as age, what is provided by forages, and the cow’s tolerance for it will play a role. You will need to use a certain amount depending on the amount of supplement you are taking.

For cattle not used to self-feeding, use a 50:50 or 60:40 salt-to-meal ratio to prevent overeating. Once that has gone on for a little while you can reduce the amount of used till you get the intake that you are wanting. Unless they have been fed supplements before, they will need a training period of about a week without salt.

You should crack or coarsely grind your grain before taking this supplement. This will be to match the grain size of the salt you are feeding. This will prevent the cattle from separating the two and overeating. It is also a good idea to provide forages as either grass or hay during this time. Use plain white salt also.

Some considerations

When using salt to limit intake you will need to consider the following:

• The amount of salt to use can vary from 5-60%
• To increase supplement intake then decrease the amount of salt. To decrease the amount of supplement then increase the amount of salt
• It will be necessary to add more salt as the animal grows accustomed to it in order to limit its intake
• The feeder should be portable and able to protect the feed from wind and rain
• Do not place feeders next to water sources because it will affect grazing distribution. If you would like more ideas to improve grazing distribution check out my previous post “Better grazing with supplements”.

An example

Let’s say that you have a self-fed protein supplement, soybean meal, or cottonseed meal, that you were wanting to feed a group of 1100lbs cows at 2lbs per head per day. According to the table below those cattle will need to average 1.1lbs of salt per day to limit intake. A self-fed supplement composed of 35% salt, and 65% protein supplement would, on average meet both of those requirements. As I have said before you will likely need to adjust those numbers to meet your needs.

Table 1. Estimated Salt Intake of Cattle Fed Salt-Limited Supplements. (Courtesy of Oklahoma State University)

Assumes drinking water is low in TDS.

For fun let’s say that in addition to that 2lbs of protein supplement you also want the cow to eat 3lbs of grain. This will bring the total amount to 5 lbs. In that case, the supplement will only need 18% to meet that need.