? about Multimin 90

[Ky hills]

Have been feeding chelated "breeder" mineral to cows and heifers, for the main purpose of aiding in higher concentration of early conception rates in both AI and natural service. Last year, I had what I thought to be a good % of heifers bred first service AI. 27 out of 35 AI bred, with 5 more being natural service, and 4 open. The bull passed a BSE before turnout. This year I have started feeding the breeder mineral earlier. I am wondering if Multimin 90 in addition would be beneficial?

 

[Son of Butch]

No, you'd be wasting extra $ ...when a bucket is full it's full... and sounds like what you've been doing is working.

 

[Ky hills]

Thank you Son of Butch.

On a side note, I noticed that my head count wasn't right, I typed 27 instead of 26. Math never was my strong point, guess I should leave that to my school teacher wife.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Multi min is a very good product.
With my own experiences with mineral deficiencies, (selenium, copper, and mag) the vets have said, " you must take a broader approach then just the loose minerals." The only way to know for sure as to where you stand is with periodic blood work on a sample of your cattle. Anything else is just a guess.
Because of the (sometimes severe) deficiencies that my cattle have experienced, I use loose minerals in conjunction with Multimin injections atleast twice per year and a selenium and copper bolus in each yearly.
All of this, and my cattle are on very good feed! Minerals are highly variable from place to place. My best advice is if you are unsure, do some blood work.
With out boring you with the details again, ( of the problems that I have had) I say the blood work was well worth it for me.
See my post on "Mystery diagnosis solved."

 

[Son of Butch]

On a side note, I noticed that my head count wasn't right, I typed 27 instead of 26. Math never was my strong point...

Yeah, I saw Clark County Ky location and figured within +/-3 and you'd still be above average for your contemporaries. :cowboy:

By the way, branguscowgirl is right and it wouldn't hurt to have a bottle on hand for any you suspect may need it, but I wouldn't recommend bothering to use across the board without documented reasoning.

 

[Ky hills]

Thank you BCG. I will talk with the vet about the blood testing, when we do spring herd work. It would be good to know if there were mineral or vitamin deficiencies.

Son of Butch ( I'm not going to abbreviate that name ), there are probably several contemporary groups here, depending on the day, I may qualify for more than one of them. :lol2:

 

[branguscowgirl]

I am sorry, the thread was "Surprise Diagnosis-Finally".

 

[Stocker Steve]

I am wondering if Multimin 90 in addition would be beneficial?

Multi Min will send you a couple studies that show a small increase in pregnancy rate when using their product. Hard to know how the kind of cattle and kind of soil and kind of mineral and kind of care compare to yours...

I use it on my cattle if their hair coat shows issues. Some need more than others. :nod: I also use it on all incoming cattle.

 

[Ky hills]

Thanks Stocker Steve,
That is a good idea to give it to newly purchased calves. I have usually fed a medicated receiving ration for new calves, but with the
newly implemented feed directives, not sure about how that will be affected.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Go to Multimins website. Studies have also shown increased efficacy of your vaccines when using it.
Every newborn calf gets it here also. I use to give newborns Muse or Bose, now it is Multimin.

 

[Ky hills]

Thank you BCG, I will look at Multimin's website. It could be helpful to newborns here, as sometimes have some issues with cold, wet weather during spring calving.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Through my research I discovered that calves start to loose their mineral stores from gestation after the first few months. I know for sure that they do not get Selenium or Mag in milk. (Probably missing others also, but those are biggys for me.) So if they have not learned to hit the loose minerals fairly young, they can be very deficient by the time they are 4-6 mos. old.

I would like to add that though my herd was deficient, (some severely) they had loose minerals available at all times. They were on irrigated pasture with a good variety of healthy forage and were fat as hogs. They never exhibited the most common symptom of "retained placentas" . (SE)
So I can not stress enough how variable deficiencies are by location and symptoms! Cattle that you think are healthy and vibrant can be suffering. Only the blood work will tell you the truth.

 

[Ky hills]

Thanks BCG, very good information. I have placed more emphasis on minerals the last few years. Pastures here are mostly fescue, with clover sown in. My cattle are supplemented with a little grain to keep them in good condition and easy to work with. That is a good point about calves depleting their mineral stores.