Just noticed one of my young cows eating and licking at a pile of dirt. I just moved the cows and the bull to a new pasture after feeding them hay all winter. They always have access to a trace mineral block with selenium. Just wondering if anybody has any thoughts about this or if it is normal. Thanks.
Cow eating dirt..
- Thread starter shloh1981
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rockridgecattle
Well-known member
up grade from a free choice to a loose mineral. check with your local ag extention office on whether it should be 1:1 or 2:1 or 1:2
Cowdirt
Well-known member
shloh1981":2bmo4qmy said:
As stated by Rockridge, change from trace mineral block to bagged minerals that are recommended for your area. Keep them available all the time. Also keep salt out. Licking either minerals or salt seldom gives cows as much as they need.
shloh1981":152zgnx7 said:
Cows (and calves, for that matter) will eat dirt when they are lacking mineral. Trade in your trace mineral block(that is exactly what it it providing - "trace" minerals) for a good loose mineral formulated for your area, and this behaviour will stop.
rockridgecattle
Well-known member
I should mention, cheap mineral is not always better. The most expensive is not always better. You want to find one the cows will eat and do well on. If the dirt eating does not clear up, or if they go after fence posts(clearing a fence line faster that you can shake a stick), or like the taste of wire (say 25 feet of copper), or decide the rails on your corrals need abit of marking and taste testing, then your mineral is not doing the job it is intended to
Just some thought from experience...
Oh yeah watch any tractors or machinery you leave in a pasture...they can strip the electrical system or the seat cushion in the time it takes you to turn your back for 5 minutes...can't tell you the number of times hubby rewired the tractors, or hunted the farm for parts to cushion the seats again...
All above experiences came to an end once we changed the mineral brand. The wire eater had developed a bad habit, was costing the farm more and more, so she got shipped...brought a dang good weight i might add
Just some thought from experience...
Oh yeah watch any tractors or machinery you leave in a pasture...they can strip the electrical system or the seat cushion in the time it takes you to turn your back for 5 minutes...can't tell you the number of times hubby rewired the tractors, or hunted the farm for parts to cushion the seats again...
All above experiences came to an end once we changed the mineral brand. The wire eater had developed a bad habit, was costing the farm more and more, so she got shipped...brought a dang good weight i might add
Lucky_P
Well-known member
For the most part, those red/brown 'trace mineral salt blocks' are not worth what you pay for them. Most don't contain enough selenium to really be of much benefit, and if you're in a part of the country where soils are deficient in copper, the large amounts of iron oxide added to the blocks as a filler & coloring agent will block efficient absorption of copper - actually making copper deficiency worse.
Switch to a good loose free-choice mineral formulated for the needs of livestock in your area.
Switch to a good loose free-choice mineral formulated for the needs of livestock in your area.
BILL CLAYLAND
Well-known member
My herf bull calf came over and started licking the dirt when i was replacing a gate post couple weeks ago,, there was snow on the ground at the time.
I thought he just missed good old earth with all the snow weve had.
I do use a free choice loose mineral that was reccomended for beef cattle in the area by the local feedmill.
I thought he just missed good old earth with all the snow weve had.
I do use a free choice loose mineral that was reccomended for beef cattle in the area by the local feedmill.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Bill I've seen cattle do it off and on all my adult life. Don't know that it really means anything other than the dirt in that particular place may taste good to them at that particular time. Pregnant cow might be like pregnant women and have all sorts of cravings from time to time for no apparent reason. ;-)
It could be a deficiency but I'm kind of the same mind as TexasBred. They just seem to LOVE a bit of fresh dirt. Kinder Morgan ran a new line through here a couple years ago - talking a big deep trench - the cattle just went nuts over the dirt. You dump a load of fresh dirt where they can get to it and they will stomp and trample and eat and just generally flatten that sucker in a few days! Don't even think about leavine that new waterline trench open for a few days waiting for better weather to lay that pipe! :roll:
