Mineral deficiencies among pasture forages is a widespread problem across the whole country. Beef cattle require a number of dietary minerals for body maintenance, growth and reproduction.
A national study done by Utah’s State Diagnostic Lab has found that 53% to 70% of cattle were short on important dietary minerals.
They also found that there was a need to supplement in every state. So how do you know if you need to supplement, here are some things to consider:
Are you sure your pasture’s forages are providing enough mineral?
How much mineral content that is in your forage is determined by what is available in your soil. There has been shown to be a direct correlation between the two. Mineral concentration and plant material that is grown in that soil are linked.
The leading mineral concerns nationwide the study found were copper and selenium. The lack of presence of these minerals can also be from the presence of others such as sulfur and iron.
Deficiencies of both of these minerals can lead to white muscle disease. As well as weakened immune function which can let in things like pneumonia and diarrhea.
Other potential shortages they found were zinc, manganese, or Vitamins A and E. These shortages were found to be due to inadequate intake by cattle.
Lack on micronutrients doesn’t directly cause disease but they do cause an effect on the immune and reproduction systems.
One thing to remember is that just because the particular supplement says that it has a certain level of minerals doesn’t mean that all of it will be utilized. The bioavailability ,or the amount cattle will absorb, of certain forages will be lower than what is listed.
A good rule of thumb is mineral values in forages should be discounted by 50% to account for low bioavailability. What you fertilize your pasture with and the stage of maturity of the forage can also affect the mineral content and the mineral bioavailability.
Not to discount it but a forage analysis is necessary to have a reasonably accurate mineral composition of a forage-based diet.
How does minerals play a role in my calf’s health?
Adequate mineral consumption plays a very important role in the cattle production cycle. It will determine how well your cattle grow and how quickly a cow will be rebred.
In the third trimester of pregnancy the cow passes some of her mineral and vitamins store to her calf. This allows the calf to have a really good body reserves to allow immune systems to run good from the start.
When supplementing properly many ranchers have seen increases in average weaned weight from 25lbs or so when fixing mild deficiencies to as much as 80lbs when correcting severe deficiencies.
Add that to the fact that calves getting sick less over their lifetime when born to cows that had proper supplementation during pregnancy. You can see how quickly properly supplementing minerals can pay off.
The issues of inadequate minerals can sneak up on you over time. It may take a while for the deficiency of a particular mineral to present itself. Another issue is that the symptoms may be so subtle that it is easy to overlook them. Just a casual inspection in the pasture will yield no results.
Need for a mineral forage analysis
You will need to get a forage test done to determine what it is providing and what you are lacking. This will also help with determining and protein or energy needs. Once you have gotten the results back you can then set up your supplementation program based on that.
Another important factor to consider is since various factors can affect what the forages provide you will have to do the test more than just one and done. The nutrients that your forage will provide to your cattle can be affected by many different factors. You should perform a forage analysis every 5-7 years to get an understanding of how your forage content will change.
Mineral Supplement strategy
Making sure that every cow gets the right amount of mineral can be a little tricky but here are some strategies that you can use:
Mix minerals into complete ration: This is the best way to make sure that each animal will get the proper level of minerals in their diet. Offer the ration free-choice to cattle to ensure adequate intake. If you are doing this a trace mineral salt block should be put out separately.
Add minerals to a supplement feed: With this strategy minerals should be added to a grain supplement to reach levels that are sufficient to meet mineral requirements. You can factor in the amount that they will be getting from forages but that is not necessary with this. Monitoring consumption is important to this strategy.
Use free-choice mixtures: Self-feeding minerals is a satisfactory method of supplementing minerals. The drawback to this is that cattle will not have all of their minerals perfectly met going this way. Some of your cattle will overconsume and some will under-consume depending on the herd pecking order. Mixing in salt or using a highly palatable concentrate will encourage mineral intake.
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